BANGKOK, 29 September 2012 – The official data from the Industry Ministry shows that the country’s Manufacturing Production Index has slipped markedly in August.
Deputy Director-General of the Office of Industrial Economics (OIE) Hathai Uthai said on Friday that Thailand’s Manufacturing Production Index (MPI) stood at 174.11 in August, down 11.32 percent from the same period of last year and 2.57 percent from July.
Mr. Hathai said that the decrease of MPI was the result of the economic problems in the country’s major trading partners, such as China, Japan and Europe.
He added that the affected sectors are electronic parts, petroleum, food, canned and frozen seafood and garment.
Still, there remained some industries that were doing well in the past month. They are, for example, automobile, home electrical appliances, sugar and cement.
The OIE’s Deputy Director-General believes that the auto industry will still be doing great during the remainder of this year, because of the government-initiated ‘First Car’ project, whose positive impact will likely last until the middle of next year.
