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"I believe the crisis in the electronics and allied appliances sector has already bottomed out," said Katiya Greigarn, chairman of the Electrical, Electronics and Allied Industries Club of the FTI.

He said companies in these industries had recruited manpower over the last few months to prepare for production of electronic components this quarter.

He said the industries had laid off around 20,000 workers y the end of last year, and roughly 3,000 early this ear. Now many thousands have been recalled and companies re still hiring.

Overseas importers resumed placing orders for electronic omponents a few months ago, while orders of electrical ppliances from overseas have not yet come back, atiya said.

Since November last year, many manufacturers of electrical and electronics products cut their overtime and outsourcing,in immediate measures to reduce costs in order to survive the crisis.

Katiya said the export value of electronics and electrical appliances in January fell by 40 per cent from the same period last year. The situation is improving, as the export value in May dropped around 20 per cent from a year earlier.

"I forecast that the export value of the industries will improve in the second half of the year and the full-year figure is expected to drop approximately 20 per cent or less from Bt1.65 trillion last year," he said.

Despite signs of recovery in the electronics industry, Katiya believes that electronics firms so far have no plans to invest more on increasing production capacity for the new orders because there is sufficient supply in the industry.