Thailand's manufacturing sector growth hits 29-month high in October

BANGKOK, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's manufacturing sector growth surged in October, reaching the highest rate in 29 months, driven by new business inflows despite subdued external demand, a survey showed on Monday.

The Southeast Asian country's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) came in at 56.6 last month, jumping from 54.6 in September, marking a sixth successive month of improvement in operating conditions, according to S&P Global.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector, while a reading below 50 reflects contraction.

Incoming new orders increased at the sharpest pace in two and a half years amid reports of successful business development and growing client interests, S&P Global said in a statement.

Production growth accelerated for the seventh month in a row as new work inflows rose, leading Thai manufacturers to also boost their workforce capacity to keep up with higher workloads, the statement said.

Jingyi Pan, economics associate director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, attributed a notable increase in manufacturing output to robust domestic demand.

"Although new export orders continued to decline, it was positive to see the pace of reduction easing in the latest survey period," Pan said.

Besides rising new orders, the record expansion in backlogs, coupled with improved optimism about output growth in the year ahead, all point to the Thai manufacturing sector remaining on track for growth in the coming months, she noted.■