Taiwan manufacturing output up 4.94 percent in Q2

2014-08-20

Taiwan’s manufacturing output gained 4.94 percent from a year ago to NT$3.67 trillion (US$122.19 billion) in the second quarter, reflecting the continuously improving economy at home and abroad, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs Aug. 19.

“The percentage gain is the best performance since the third quarter of 2011,” an MOEA official said. “We remain cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the second half of the year, which is usually much busier for manufacturers.”

Figures from the MOEA Department of Statistics show that five of the country’s six major sectors posted gains in the quarter, with only computers, electronics and opticals experiencing a decline, of 1.23 percent.

Electronic components and parts remain Taiwan’s leading manufacturing industry, gaining 5.57 percent to NT$937.4 billion, or a quarter of the total.

“The strong showing is due to the introduction of new smart mobile devices that pushed up demand for contract foundry services, integrated circuits and memory products,” the official said.

Chemicals and basic metals also performed well, gaining 3.78 percent and 8.39 percent, respectively, to NT$542.1 billion and NT$396.4 billion as local petrochemical firms began stocking up in preparation for their annual maintenance in the third quarter and global prices of metal products continued to rise.

Machinery output rose 7.73 percent to NT$166.3 billion courtesy of booming demand for Taiwan’s automated equipment and machine tools amid the recovery.

While comprising only 3 percent of the country’s total output at NT$114.3 billion, automobiles and related components and parts outperformed all other sectors with a gain of 23.18 percent from a year ago, the second highest on record.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=220802&CtNode=413)