Thailand’s October Auto Exports Up, Domestic Sales Down

BANGKOK, Nov 25 (Bernama) -- Thailand’s car and truck exports in October increased by 19.07 per cent year-on-year to 111,229 units, rising in terms of value by 36.44 per cent year-on-year to 59.999 billion baht. However, domestic sales dropped 4.2 per cent to 67,908 units. The growth in volume and value of exports was mainly driven by the expansion of exports of new models of pick-up vehicles to the Asia, Australia and Middle East markets as well as eco-car exports to the Europe and North America markets, said Surapong Paisitpatanapong, Deputy Chairman of the Automotive Industry Club of Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) at a monthly press conference here Tuesday. Total automotive exports including engines, parts and spare parts in October increased by 22.83 per cent to 79.623 billion baht, he said. In the January-October period, exports rose by 9.03 per cent to 1,016,595 units worth 491.519 billion baht, an increase of 11.67 per cent, he said. With engines, parts and spare parts included, the export value for the 10-month period stood at 699.877 billion baht, an increase by 7.04 per cent, he said. However, domestic sales continued to be weak, mainly due to the country's weak economy plus other factors such as low prices of agricultural products, slowdown in private investments as well as strict loan requirements imposed by financial institutions concerned about high household debts, said Surapong. However, on a positive note, domestic sales in October were 9.8 per cent higher than in September, he added. In the January-October period, domestic sales stood at 621,740 units, down 13.6 per cent compared with the same period last year. Surapong said Thailand's car and truck production in October stood at 165,381 units, a growth of 3.52 per cent year-on-year due to increased production of new models of pick-up vehicles for export. Production for export in October increased 3.66 per cent year-on-year to 108,016 units, while production for the domestic market rose 3.25 per cent year-on-year to 57.365 units, he said. Total production for the January-October period increased by 1.84 per cent to 1.597 million units, he added. -- BERNAMA