Industry confidence up, car exports down | Bangkok Post: news

The Thai industries sentiment index (TISI) for December 2011 rose to 93.7, up from 87.5 in November, Payungsak Chartsuthipol, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) said on Wednesday.

Mr Payungsak attributed the improvement to an increase in overall orders, total sales, production output and better business performance of manufacturers after the floods receded.

Many factories had gradually resumed production, particularly in the automobile and auto-part industries.

However, the TISI still stood below 100, showing that manufacturers' confidence was still not at good level. A number of the flooded plants could still not resume operations because repairs were not complete, the FTI chief said.

Most manufacturers wanted the government to further stimulate the post-flood economy, and delay its plans to increase the daily minimum wage to 300 baht and to raise the cost of energy used by the industrial sector, he said.

Photo EPA