Taiwan’s industrial output expanded 13.3 percent year-on-year last month, the lowest growth in five months as orders slowed after the Lunar New Year holiday.
The output index was 110.66 points last month, down 17 percent from January, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Taiwanese factories were in full gear in December and January because of a surge in orders ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday buying spree.
December output set a record at 136.58 points, while January setting the second-highest record at 133.39 points.
A 59 percent decline in output for the construction sector was another reason for last month’s weaker momentum.
Fewer construction licenses were issued last month in Taiwan’s major cities, according to Huang Ji-shih (黃吉實), director general of the ministry’s statistics department.
“There could be some impact from the government’s introduction of a ‘luxury tax’ on property sales to curb speculation,” he said.
However, production output is expected to pick up this month as Japanese firms lose orders to Taiwanese peers in the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami there earlier this month, he said.
Production in the manufacturing industry — which accounts for more than 90 percent of Taiwan’s total factory output and includes the electronics, chemicals, machinery, food and textile sectors — rose 15.4 percent last month.
Output in the electronics components sector was up 23.3 percent on demand for tablets and smartphones, while output for the machinery equipment sector climbed 31 percent in the wake of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).
Some Taiwanese machinery products started to enjoy lower export tariffs to China on Jan. 1 because they are included in the ECFA’s early-harvest list.
However, the economics ministry said on Monday that export orders — an indication of orders to come in the next one to three months — slowed to US$28.87 billion last month amid decreasing demand for Taiwanese notebooks and panels.
Meanwhile, the ministry yesterday also released last month’s domestic consumption figures.
Total sales for the wholesale, retail and food and beverage sectors totaled NT$1.04 trillion (US$35 billion).
That marked a rise of 4.7 percent from last year, but was down 14.4 percent from a month earlier, according to the department.
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