BANGKOK – Thailand’s manufacturing production index (MPI) in April contracted by a more-than-expected 8.14 percent from a year earlier, as exports slowed and production costs rose, the industry ministry said on Wednesday.
The figure compared with a forecast in a Reuters poll for a fall of 2.15 percent in April, and came after March’s revised 3.86 percent year-on-year drop.
In the January-April period, the MPI declined 4.69 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry forecast factory output would show zero to 1 percent growth this year, the ministry said.
While exports remain sluggish, domestic demand has increased, driven by strength in the vital tourism sector and higher investment, it said.
Industrial goods account for about 80 percent of total customs-based exports, which contracted by a more-than-expected 7.6 percent in April from a year earlier.
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