BANGKOK: Thailand’s manufacturing production fell for the 17th straight month in February, down 2.84% from a year earlier, due to lower car production and high household debt, the industry ministry says.

The fall was less than the 3.9% year-on-year (y-o-y) slump expected for February in a Reuters poll, and followed January’s 2.94% fall from a year earlier.

Auto production was down for the seventh consecutive month due to weak domestic demand and exports, Warawan Chitaroon, head of the Office of Industrial Economics, told a briefing.

In the January-February period, factory output dropped 2.88% y-o-y. The ministry forecasts manufacturing output to rise 2% to 3% this year after falling 3.78% in 2023.

In February, auto production fell 19.28% from a year earlier, largely due to a decline in production of pickup trucks and an increase in imports of electric vehicles (EVs), according to the Federation of Thai Industries. Thailand is a regional automaking hub.

Industrial goods account for about 80% of total exports, which rose 3.6% y-o-y in February, less than expected. That compared to January’s 10% increase annually.

Thailand had one of the region’s highest ratios of household debt, at 16.2 trillion baht (US$445.4bil) or 90.9% of gross domestic product, as at the end of September 2023.

Hospitality-related industries including alcohol, however, were benefiting from brighter tourism prospects, said Warawan.

Thailand had received 8.73 million foreign tourists this year as at March 24, up 44% y-o-y. — Reuters