BANGKOK, 1 May 2015 – The Manufacturing Product Index (MPI) of March 2015 was down by 1.8 percent mainly in the export industry, while industry manufacturing during the first quarter of 2015 has expanded by merely 0.1 percent, reported the OIE.
The Deputy Director of the Office of Industrial Economics (OIE) Somsak Jantararoungtong has revealed that March’s MPI contracted by 1.8 percent, mainly in the export industry such as the manufacture of Hard Disk Drive (HDD), television, and electronic appliances, due to the sluggish recovery of the global economy, and the suspended production of HDD manufacturers due to machinery maintenance.
He has said that the export volume of industrial goods in March, excluding gold, shrunk by 2.5 percent as the value of goods dropped along with the lower petroleum price. The declining exports of garments, computers, instruments and related parts, electricity circuits, and air conditioners and related parts during the first quarter of 2015 has also resulted in a 1.4 percent contraction of industrial goods excluding gold.
The import of capital goods also experienced a 9.1 percent contraction, while the import of raw materials excluding gold shrunk by 1 percent.
During March 2015 the automotive industries produced 1.72 percent less cars, the domestic sales of cars dropped by 11.75 percent, while the export of cars has increased by 12.63 percent when compared to the same period of last year.
For the electrical and electronics industry, electronic appliance manufacturing dropped by 9.56 percent when compared to the same period of last year, due to the 9.5 percent shrinkage of the electronics industry scene. The manufacturing capacity of electronics goods have been reduced, including HDD manufacturing at 13.01 percent due to the machine maintenance of some manufacturers and the drop of the global demands for computers and laptops. The Monolithic IC and semiconductor productions increased by 23.62 and 2.50 percent due to the increased demand of communications devices.
The electrical industry has also shrunk by 9.77 percent with a drop in electrical appliances such as compressors, refrigerators, electric kettles, rice cookers, and televisions at 11.59, 2.81, 10.82, 23.45, and 56.44 percent respectively. The production of air conditioning parts, such as condensing units, fan coil units, and fans increased at 7.37, 4.02 and 19.64 percent when compared to the same period of last year.
The consumption of iron and steel in March 2015 is reported at 1.32 million tons, marking a 7.32 percent increase from the same period of last year, while the manufacturing amount is at 0.44 million tons which is 8.33 percent less due to annual machine maintenance of a major manufacturer.
Production for textiles and garments dropped by 0.93 percent for fabrics and 11.63 percent for textiles. This is due to the fact that manufacturers still have these items in stock, and ASEAN markets have decreased their orders. The production of ready-to-wear clothes dropped by 1.8 percent, reflecting domestic demands. The export value of March 2015 for fabrics decreased by 1.9 percent due to the termination of the GSP since 1 January 2015.
For foods industry, the production has increased by 3.5 percent, and food exports increased by 0.5 percent due to the recovery of the economy of import countries such as the United States and the lower petroleum price. However, the uncertainty of the Ukraine crisis has prohibited the industry to expand more, and the domestic spending value still at the same rate in relation to the domestic economy that is yet to see full recovery.
