OIE:Strong baht affects Thai industries

BANGKOK, March 29 (TNA) - The Office of Industrial Economics (OIE), under the Ministry of Industry, has cautioned if the ongoing appreciation of the Thai baht continued throughout this year, Thailand's growth of industrial production should drop nearly by half. As the value of the Thai baht had appreciated by 4.05 per cent year-on-year as of February 2013, Hathai Uthai, OIE Deputy Director-General acknowledged on Thursday that the value of Thai industrial exports had dropped by over 35.7 billion baht in the first two months of this year, warning if the baht appreciation continued throughout this year, the value of Thai industrial exports should plunge by over 232 billion baht and Thailand's growth rate of industrial production should drop by 2.72 per cent by the end of 2013, from 6 per cent to 3.28 per cent. Hathai said that the baht appreciation had considerably affected heavily-export-oriented rubber and furniture businesses, but impacts had been unclear on local industrial sectors relying on both exports and imports, including medical instruments, jewelry, machines, electrical appliances and electronic products. The OIE deputy chief pointed out that the baht appreciation had, however, benefited local businesses slightly relying on exports and largely on imports, namely chemical and steel firms. The OIE deputy chief noted that Thailand's manufacturing production index also dropped by 1.2 per cent year-on-year last month, with declining production happening to such products as hard disk drives, garments, seafood and electrical appliances, over 60 per cent of which were exported; while the production capacity utilization rate stood at 62 per cent last month. According to the OIE deputy chief, Thailand's automobile production increased by 36 per cent last month when local manufacturers had to speed up production for deliveries. The OIE deputy director-general projected that Thailand's automobile production should grow by 42 per cent in the first quarter of this year, when the production of iron and steel should also rise by 7.91 per cent due to increasing construction in the local public and private sectors, the production in the local electrical industry should climb by nearly 2 per cent and the production of air-conditioners should expand by 10 per cent, after growing by as much as 35 per cent last month. Meanwhile. Permanent Secretary for Commerce Vatchari Vimooktayon reported that the value of Thai exports amounted to 17.93 billion baht last month, a 5.83 per cent year-on-year drop, as exports of agricultural and agro-industrial products, including rice, Para rubber, and frozen, canned and processed seafood, declined by as much as 13.5 year-on-year. Besides, Thai exports of textiles, precious stones and jewelry declined by 2.6 per cent year-on-year, with Thailand's shipments to most markets having dropped due to global economic fluctuations which had particularly affected such major markets as Japan, the United States and the European Union (EU). (TNA)