BANGKOK, Mar 30 (NNN-TNA) – Thailand’s industrial output fell for the fifth consecutive month in Feb, as global demand remained weak, data showed yesterday.
The country’s manufacturing production index (MPI) in Feb, dropped 2.71 percent from a year earlier to 98.89, indicating a slowdown in the decline, compared to the previous two months, according to the Ministry of Industry.
Despite continued shrinks in furniture, hard disk drives, and plastic pellet manufacturing, last month, sugar production grew 23.46 percent year-on-year, due to higher cane output, and car production expanded 6.64 percent, year-on-year, owing to improved semiconductor supplies, the ministry’s Office of Industrial Economics director-general, Worawan Chitaroon, said.
In Feb, petroleum production rose 7.33 percent, year-on-year, as demand for jet fuel and gasoline surged amid tourism rebounds, Worawan said.
The ministry expects industrial output this month, to be stable or slightly lower, given the global slowdown. However, improved domestic consumption, driven by a tourism resurgence, and lower production costs would benefit industrial production, the ministry said.– NNN-TNA
