The Thai Industries Sentiment Index (TISI) in June moved up sharply from 94.7 in the previous month to 103.3, as industrialists are bullish on the economic outlook and political stability.
Payungsak Chartsutipol, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said improvement was seen in all industrial groups, regardless of sizes and locations.
Of over 1,000 respondents, most also believed that the situation would improve in the next three months, and this would boost orders, sale revenue, production output and financial results.
"Still, they are worried about overseas orders and sales, due to the fragile recovery of the global economy. Meanwhile, they also showed concerns on Map Ta Phut issue, as this will affect new investment. They said it is too long to announce the list of harmful activities in the next two months. Upward interest trend is also a concern particularly for SMEs, but they believe that higher sales should compensate higher financial cost."
Payungsak said that most operators urged the government to maintain political stability by pushing the reconciliation scheme to restore investor confidence. The government should also ensure stable foreign exchange rates, urgently end the Map Ta Phut crisis, come up with a soft loan project, and lower corporate income taxes to boost the economy.
Thailand's automotive production in the first half expanded 97 per cent on year to 768,000 units, thanks to strong recovery in the domestic and overseas demand. Of total, 31 per cent was passenger cars, up 99 per cent from the same period las tyear. However, the pickup range output showed the increase of 101 per cent.
"Though pickup and passenger car sale ratio remains tight, the higher pickup outputs shows high demand from overseas," said Surapong Paisitpattanapong, spokesman for the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) Automotive Industry Club.
In the first half, 418,000 units were exported at the value of Bt195 billion. The figures represented the increase of 78 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively. Inclusive of parts and accessories, the value was Bt276 billion, up 72 per cent on year.
Motorcycle exports reached 334,000 units, up 38 per cent, while the value rose only 2 per cent to Bt10.5 billion.