BANGKOK: Thailand’s manufacturing production index (MPI) contracted for a ninth straight month in January, down 4.59% from a year earlier, on lower production of cars, sugar and palm oil, the industry ministry said.
The outcome was worse than a forecast drop of 3.9% in a Reuters poll, and against December’s revised decline of 4.37%.
Capacity utilisation in January was 66.48%, In January, production of cars fell 12.8% from a year earlier while sugar dropped 15.2% and palm oil tumbled 40.7%, the ministry said.
The ministry expects the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in China and spread to more than two dozen countries, to have a short-term effect on Thailand’s manufacturing output, mainly on the food industry, due to a drop in tourists, Thongchai Chawalitpichaet, head of the ministry’s Office of Industrial Economics, said. — Reuters
The outcome was worse than a forecast drop of 3.9% in a Reuters poll, and against December’s revised decline of 4.37%.
Capacity utilisation in January was 66.48%, In January, production of cars fell 12.8% from a year earlier while sugar dropped 15.2% and palm oil tumbled 40.7%, the ministry said.
The ministry expects the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in China and spread to more than two dozen countries, to have a short-term effect on Thailand’s manufacturing output, mainly on the food industry, due to a drop in tourists, Thongchai Chawalitpichaet, head of the ministry’s Office of Industrial Economics, said. — Reuters
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