Manufacturing index to rise 11%

The office registered MPI growth of 10.46 per cent and an expansion of industrial gross domestic product of around 7 to 8 per cent in the first six months. For the whole year, it expects MPI will expand 11 per cent, up from 8.1 per cent last year, and manu¬facturing gross domestic product will surge from 6.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent.

Its directorgeneral Atchaka Sriboonruang Brimble said the positive growth was caused by aggressive export expansion in the electronics, automotive, autoparts and food industries despite higher energy prices and infla¬tion. She explained that while the United States had performed under the subprime crisis better than expected in the first half, the European countries and China had still registered growth rates of 2.2 and 10.6 per cent, respec¬tively.

Despite an increase of 20 per cent in the first half, automotive production is expected to decline in the rest of the year since sales of pickup trucks in the domestic market dropped considerably in the past two months.

Food exports are expected to grow 14.3 per cent in the last six months, against 22.3 per cent in the first half, as a result of the gloomy economic climate in the US.