Taiwan industrial output hits new high in 2014

2015-01-27

Taiwan’s industrial production index climbed 6.14 percent year on year to an all-time high of 106.56 in 2014, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs Jan. 23.

The top performer among the subindexes for the year was manufacturing, which expanded 6.41 percent to 106.67, also a new record. “Such numbers confirm the fundamentals of Taiwan’s economy and augur well for the future,” said Yang Kuei-hsien, deputy director-general of the MOEA Department of Statistics.

Results for December 2014 were equally encouraging. The IPI rose 7.33 percent to 111.58, and the manufacturing subindex, which contributes around 92.8 percent of the weighting, gained 7.29 percent from a year ago to 111.45.

Other subindexes in the overall benchmark all registered increases last month as well. Construction surged 19.87 percent; electricity and gas supply, 3.61 percent; quarrying and mineral extraction, 3.59 percent; and water supply, 0.13 percent.

“On the strength of robust holiday demand, Taiwan’s industrial output saw considerable growth across all sectors in December,” Yang said.

A breakdown of manufacturing reveals the biggest improvers as computers, electronics and optical products at 18.01 percent. Machinery and equipment gained 15.03 percent, with electronic components and parts picking up 12.88 percent.

Yang said Taiwan’s industrial production is expected to witness further expansion in the first quarter as global demand continues to rise for cloud and Internet of Things applications, as well as mobile devices based on 4G long-term evolution technology.

Separately, the MOEA said the latest commerce revenues reached a record NT$1.27 trillion (US$40.61 billion) in December, up 2.5 percent from a year before. The annual total of 14.54 trillion was also a new high in Taiwan.

By sector, retail climbed 4.1 percent, followed by wholesales at 1.9 percent. Food services and beverage, meanwhile, remained at the same level as last year.

Yang said the strong showings indicate that local and overseas demand was on the rise throughout 2014. “With the economy and employment continuing an upward trend, we expect the domestic market to see further growth this year.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=226776&CtNode=413)