BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s manufacturing production index (MPI) in August dropped 7.53% from a year earlier, the industry ministry said on Thursday, as exports slowed amid soft global demand.
The figure compared with a forecast for a 6.5% year-on-year drop for August in a Reuters poll, and followed July’s 4.43% decline.
Output has been impacted by a global economic slowdown, the ministry said.
In the January-August period, factory output fell 4.95% year-on-year. Industrial goods account for about 80% of total exports, which in August unexpectedly rose 2.6% on-year.
The industry ministry last month cut its 2023 MPI forecast to a fall of 2.8% to 3.8%, from a previous forecast of zero to 1% growth.
(Reporting by Orathai Sriring and Kitiphong Thaichareon; Editing by Martin Petty)