As Chinese companies stocked up on electronics products ahead of an expected Lunar New Year buying spree, Taiwan’s factory output set yet another record high last month by expanding 19.4 percent from a year ago, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The index of industrial output hit 130.34 last month, up 3.1 percent from October. This was the sixth time that factory output reached record level this year, with five straight record highs from March to July.
Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜), deputy director general of the ministry’s statistics department, said the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls in early February next year, has prompted companies to build up their inventories and that has kept Taiwanese factories busy.
“Economic growth in China has surpassed that of Europe and the US,” Tsai said, adding that the effect impacted Taiwanese factories, which in the past saw highest output in August and October for the Christmas shopping spree.
Now the highest output has occurred in November, marking a shift of dependence toward Lunar New Year’s effect, she said.
Factory output for this month is expected to post 25 percent growth year-on-year, while output for the year looks set to expand more than 20 percent from last year, which would be another record high.
The record was set in 1971, when industrial output grew by 23.4 percent, while the next-highest figure was in 1978 with 22.5 percent growth.
Factory output for the first 11 months jumped 27.3 percent from the same period last year.
Manufacturing industry production — which accounts for more than 90 percent of Taiwan’s total factory output, and includes the electronics, chemicals, machinery as well as food and textile sectors — grew 29 percent for the first 11 months.
Output of electronic components — a major manufacturing industry sub-sector — was up 44.3 percent and those for machinery rose 62.5 percent — marking the highest rise among all manufacturing sub-sectors.
The ministry said on Monday that export orders hit its second-highest recorded level of US$35.74 billion last month, up 14.3 percent from a year earlier, amid the backdrop of strong international demand for Taiwanese consumer electronics.
The ministry yesterday released consumption figures for last month. Total sales for the wholesale, retail as well as food and beverage sectors totaled NT$1.17 trillion (US$39.2 billion) amid strong domestic consumption. That was a 5.9 percent increase from last year, but a drop of 3.2 percent from October, the figures show.
Combined sales for the first 11 months rose 10 percent to NT$12.47 trillion.
Tsai said a lower unemployment rate, higher salaries and the rising stock market were all factors pushing up local consumption.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
RSS