BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's exports are likely to expand as much as 10.5% this year, up sharply from a previous forecast of 2% to 3%, driven by shipments of low-value goods and gold, a leading business group said on Wednesday,

The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking said exports would grow between 9.5% and 10.5% this year but maintained its 2025 gross domestic product growth forecast at 1.8% to 2.2%.

Since much of the items shipped had low value added locally or were gold-related, it would not translate into significant gains for the economy, said committee member Phot Aramwattananon, chair of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

"It will increase GDP growth not more than 0.4%", Phot told a press conference, adding that accelerating the government's consumer subsidy or "co-payment" scheme would help.

In September, the Thai economy improved on a monthly basis on a manufacturing rebound and rising exports, according to the central bank. The finance ministry last month projected a 10% rise in exports from an earlier forecast of 5.5%.

Lattakit Lapudomkarn an economist at KKP Securities, said that while exports were growing, manufacturing output had not increased significantly, so the GDP impact would be limited.

"The rise in exports isn’t coming from domestic production and adds very little value," Lattakit said, noting that the sharp rise in exports, particularly to the United States, could be due to export rights from other countries and products still included on exemption lists.

(Reporting by Thanadech Staporncharnchaiand Chayut Setboonsarng, Editing by David Stanway, Martin Petty)