Thai factory output down

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BANGKOK- Thailand’s manufacturing production index dropped 0.91 percent in October from a year earlier, the industry ministry said on Wednesday, falling less than analysts’ expectations.

The figure compared with a forecast fall of 1.85 percent for October in a Reuters poll, and followed an annual drop of 3.51 percent in September.

Factory output for the first 10 months of 2024 contracted 1.63 percent from a year earlier, and the ministry forecast it would fall 1.6 percent for the full year.

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Output has been weighed down by weaker car production and high household debt that has crimped domestic spending, the ministry said.

Car production in Thailand fell 25.13 percent in October from a year earlier, down for the 15th straight month, due to weak demand as banks have tightened autos lending, according to the Federation of Thai Industries.

However, the industry ministry expects factory output to rise 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent next year.

“Hopefully, production will increase following higher imports,” Passakorn Chairat, director general of the Office of Industrial Economics, told a press conference.

Thailand’s imports rose 15.9 percent in October from a year earlier while exports increased 14.6 percent annually. Imported materials are assembled into goods that are shipped out again.

Thailand’s exports grew in October at the fastest pace in three months, beating analysts’ forecasts, as the commerce ministry anticipated strong final-quarter growth would see its full-year target surpassed.

Exports, a key driver of Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, rose 14.6 percent in October annually, well above a forecast 5.2 percent rise in a Reuters poll, and followed September’s 1.1 percent rise.

Exports are expected to grow strongly in the last quarter of 2024 and increase by 4 percent for the year to beat the ministry’s target of 2 percent, said Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, head of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office.

Exports rose 4.9 percent in the first 10 months of 2024 from the same period in 2023.

Shipments will be supported by the recovery of industrial sectors in key trading partners, relaxed global monetary policies, growth in farm and food product exports during the holiday season, and reduced logistics costs, the ministry said.

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday pledged tariffs on the United States’ three largest trading partners, Canada, Mexico and China.

In October, Thailand’s exports to the United States, its top market, jumped 25.3 percent annually, while shipments to China increased 8.5 percent and to Japan, 7 percent. Exports last month were boosted by strong growth in shipments of technology-related products, particularly computers, equipment, and components, the ministry said. 

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