Taiwanese steel production rose 17.4 percent sequentially in the second quarter on robust demand amid a global economic recovery, the government said yesterday.
In the April-June period, steel output reached NT$366.67 billion (US$11.44 billion), compared with NT$312.4 billion in the first quarter, according to a report released by the Industry & Technology Intelligence Services (ITIS), a research institute under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Second-quarter output was also up 68.6 percent from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, exports of steel products rose 14.4 percent from the first quarter and 42.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$133.44 billion, the report said.
China, Malaysia and Hong Kong were the top three buyers of Taiwanese steel products in the second quarter, accounting for 37.3 percent of the total, the research institute said.
During the same period, Taiwan imported NT$107.12 billion in steel products, up 25.4 percent from the first quarter and 115.9 percent from a year earlier, the report said.
Japan was the largest supplier, accounting for 39.7 percent of imports, followed by China with 24.4 percent and South Korea with 15 percent, the ITIS said.
The research institute said that while the pace of the global economic recovery appeared to have slowed in the second half of this year, the impact on global steel demand was expected to be offset in the fourth quarter, a peak season for the steel sector.
The ITIS estimated that Taiwanese steel production would rise 43 percent from last year to NT$1.37 trillion, while steel product imports would increase 56 percent to NT$390.1 billion and exports would rise 36.5 percent to NT$548 billion.
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