Thailand revises factory gauge after US transshipment concerns

Thailand is overhauling a key measure of factory output after US officials pointed to a widening gap between surging exports and declining domestic production as potential evidence that goods are being routed through the country to circumvent tariffs. The concern has emerged as a vulnerability in Thailand’s trade negotiations with Washington. Exports jumped 20.8 per cent in June from a year earlier, extending double-digit gains for a fourth month, even as the Manufacturing Production Index contracted 3.1 per cent. Thai officials reject the suggestion that the divergence reflects transshipment. Instead, they argue the factory gauge has become outdated, with an…