BANGKOK- Thailand’s manufacturing production index (MPI) in February dropped by 2.71 percent from a year earlier, as slowing global demand hurt exports, the industry ministry said on Wednesday.
The figure compared with a forecast for a fall of 2.8 percent in factory output for February in a Reuters poll, and came after January’s revised 4.81 percent year-on-year decrease.
Output March is expected to be steady or down slightly due to a global slowdown, the ministry said in a statement.
However, domestic demand improved on the back of a rebound in the vital tourism sector, which would underpin manufacturing production, the ministry said.
Industrial goods account for about 80 percent of total exports, which in January contracted 4.5 percent from a year earlier, commerce ministry data showed.
Thailand’s customs-based exports fell for a fourth straight month and more than expected in January as global demand slowed, with shipments expected to contract further in the first half of the year, the Commerce Ministry said.
Exports, a key driver of growth, dropped 4.5 percent in January from a year earlier, worse than a 1 percent fall forecast in a Reuters poll, but better than December’s 14.6 percent year-on-year slump.
