Exports rose in July
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said that export orders rose more than expected in July, increasing 16.88 percent to US$12.63 billion from a year earlier due to strong demand for information technology products. That figure compares to US$12.38 billion recorded in June, the ministry said.
It marked the fourth consecutive double-digit year-on-year growth and reflected particularly strong demand growth for information technology and communications products as well as a solid increase in orders for other industrial products, the ministry said.
In the seven months to July, export orders increased 8.44 percent from the same period a year earlier to 85.25 billion dollars, it added.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's industrial output grew 11.38 percent in July from a year ago and was up 2.07 percent from June.
In the seven months to July, industrial output rose 5.71 percent from a year earlier, it said.
Hsinchu SBIP revenues up
The revenues of the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (新竹科學園區) in the first half of this year totaled NT$335.6 billion, down 8 percent over the same period of last year, a park official said Thursday.
Officials at the industrial park administration attributed the drop in income mainly to continued sluggishness in the demand for personal computers, peripherals and semiconductors.
Of the park's income for the January-June period, the IC sector accounted for NT$215.8 billion, down 3 percent; the peripheral sector for NT$62.9 billion, down 27 percent; the opto-electronics sector for NT$27.4 billion, down 24 percent; the communications sector for NT$26.2 billion, down 7 percent; the precision machinery sector for NT$2.6 billion, up 3 percent; and the biotechnology sector for NT$740 million, up 19 percent.
30-inch TFT TV set shown off
The Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美光電) yesterday presented its 30-inch TFT-LCD television set, the first of its kind on the island.
The company said the production technology of large-size TFT-LCD television sets has entered a new age, thus changing the cliche that television sets between 30 and 40 inches should be dominated by plasma display panels (PDP), which have been dominated by Japanese companies.
Chi Mei is expected to mass produce the 30-inch TFT-LCD televisions from the first quarter of next year. The 30-inch TFT-LCD panel, that weighs less than 5.5 kilograms with the thickness of only four centimeters, is the lightest and thickest among other global marks, and has received many requests for more information.
Ritek expects loss
Ritek Corp (錸德) said it expects to post a loss this year, dumping an earlier forecast of a profit because of lower-than-expected demand.
The world's largest maker of recordable compact-discs said in a statement that it expects a net loss of NT$3.25 billion ($95 million), compared with an April forecast of a NT$2.1 billion profit.
``We'd expected Ritek to cut its forecast, but the size of the cut is a little bigger than expected,'' said Hsieh Ching-hui, analyst at KGI Securities Investment Trust Co (中信投信). ``The second quarter should be the bottom, but the turnaround in the second half won't be very strong.''
NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday turned weaker against its US counterpart, closing down NT$0.062 percent to /$34.057 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. The turnover was US$478 million.
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