BANGKOK: Thailand’s manufacturing production index (MPI) in August dropped 7.53% from a year earlier, the industry ministry said on Thursday, as exports slowed amid soft global demand.

The figure compared with a forecast for a 6.5% year-on-year drop for August in a Reuters poll, and followed July’s 4.43% decline.

Output has been impacted by a global economic slowdown, the ministry said.

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In the January-August period, factory output fell 4.95% year-on-year.

Industrial goods account for about 80% of total exports, which in August unexpectedly rose 2.6% on-year.

The industry ministry last month cut its 2023 MPI forecast to a fall of 2.8% to 3.8%, from a previous forecast of zero to 1% growth.