BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s manufacturing production index dropped by a more than expected 2.11% in December from a year earlier, due to a slump in the automotive industry and weak consumption, the industry ministry said on Friday.
The figure compared with a forecast fall of 0.50% for December in a Reuters poll and followed an annual drop of 3.58% in the previous month.
Factory output was down 1.79% for the full year 2024.
Thailand’s car production fell 17.37% in December from a year earlier, down for the 17th successive month due to lower domestic sales and exports, according to the Federation of Thai Industries.
Output was also weighed down by high production costs and the influx of cheap goods from China, Passakorn Chairat, head of ministry’s industrial economics office, told a press conference.
However, production was helped by government stimulus measures and higher exports, he said.
(Reporting by Orathai Sriring and Thanadech Staporncharnchai; Editing by Martin Petty)
