Industrial output expanded 13.8 percent year-on-year last month, setting a new record amid increased international demand for Taiwanese machinery, PC products and electrical goods.
The output index was 138.9 points last month, beating the earlier record high of 136.58 points in December last year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The output was 25.9 percent stronger than in February, the ministry said.
On a quarterly basis, first-quarter output slowed 2.8 percent from the fourth quarter of last year, but it increased 14.8 percent compared with the first three months of last year.
Production in the manufacturing sector — which accounts for more than 90 percent of total factory output and includes the electronics, chemicals, machinery, food and textile sectors — rose 14.4 percent last month.
Output in the electronics sector was up 20.6 percent, owing to strong demand for smartphones and tablet PCs, according to Huang Ji-shih (黃吉實), director-general of the ministry’s statistics department.
“The other factor was that companies stocked up on products and components after concerns of a possible supply squeeze after Japan’s earthquake [and tsunami] last month,” Huang told reporters, adding that those concerns boosted demand for semiconductors, panels, LEDs and solar energy components.
Output in the machinery equipment sector climbed 24.4 percent, but the chemicals sector fell 2.3 percent because of factories closing for annual maintenance which caused some supply constraints, he added.
Output is expected to pick up in the second quarter amid strong capital spending by local firms to boost production capacity, as well as the ripple effect from the disaster in Japan that has caused Japanese firms to lose some business to Taiwan, Huang added.
The ministry said last week that export orders — an indication of orders to come in the next one to three months — hit a record US$38.99 billion last month, thanks to the introduction of new tablet PCs, strong demand from the US and Europe, as well as inventory stocking in China.
Separately, the ministry yesterday released last month’s domestic consumption figures.
Total revenue for wholesale, retail and the food and beverage sectors hit a record NT$1.19 trillion (US$41.19 billion).
It represented a rise of 7.4 percent compared with last year and an increase of 15.2 percent from a month earlier, a statement said.
Cumulative domestic revenue was NT$3.45 trillion during the first three months, up 8.6 percent year-on-year.
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