The Thai Industries Sentiment Index (TISI) for October was down from 94.1 in September to stand at 93.0, the lowest for 11 months, Payungsak Chartsuthipol, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said on Friday.
The FTI’s industry confidence survey was conducted in October, involving 1,153 manufacturers in 42 industry groups.
The industry confidence figure has been below the 100 level for four straight months, showing low confidence in the industry sector, said Mr Payungsak.
He said the negative factors that eroded confidence of manufacturers included the rise in prices of raw materials, the 300 baht wage nationwide policy which will take effect in January, the possible increase in the fuel tariff (FT) charge and the global economic recession.
The industry confidence for the coming three months also dropped, down to 101.8, from 103.5 reported in September on manufacturers’ concerns about declining purchasing orders, which affected their business, he added.
The manufacturers wanted the government to delay a plan to increase the FT charge for electricity generation by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, solve the persistent labour shortage problem, and allow them to continue to use foreign workers, the FTI chairman said.
Moreover, the manufacturers wanted the government to set up a state fund to provide small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with soft loans for buying new machines to replace the use of workers.