The Thai industries sentiment index (TISI) for October went up for the first time in four months to 92.8, from 90.4 in September, Payungsak Chartsuthipol, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said on Friday.
Mr Payungsak attributed the improvement in industry confidence to the increasing orders, overall sales volume, production output and the better business performance of manufacturers.
The FTI chief said the TISI slightly increased for the first time after declining for four straight months on the back of positive signs in the production sector, particularly in orders, domestic sales volume and production output in the fashion, construction, food and energy sectors.
Payungsak Chartsuthipol, chairman of the FTI (Bangkok Post file photo)
This showed that domestic consumption was improving, in line with the increase in manufacturers' confidence for the outlook in over the next three months, he said.
However, he added, the TISI is still below 100, which shows there is low confidence overall in the industry sector.
Manufacturers were still concerned about high production costs, high prices of raw materials and energy and the ongoing political uncertainty, which could affect their performance in October, said Mr Payungsak.
The manufacturers wanted the government to go ahead with its planned investment in infrastructure development megaprojects to help spur the economy, he said.
They also suggested that the government should quickly settle the ongoing political conflict to restore confidence among investors, develop border checkpoint areas to boost trade and investment in border cities, to create additional trade opportunities for Thailand and to resolve the labour shortage problem.