Taiwan’s manufacturing sector entered its fourth straight month of contraction last month, with the pace of decline accelerating from a month earlier, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中經院) said in its purchasing managers’ index (PMI) report yesterday.
The PMI fell to 46.7 points last month from 47.7 a month earlier, indicating that momentum of manufacturing activity continued to slow, according to the latest PMI monthly data compiled by the Taipei-based research institute.
A PMI value above 50 indicates expansion, with any lower value signaling contraction.
All firms polled were more cautious about the nation’s near-term economic outlook, with the economy sub-index dropping to 31.7, down 1.3 percentage points from September, the report said.
The new orders sub-index stood at 42.5 last month, down from 47.2 a month earlier, while the new export orders reading slid from 49.1 to 44.8, both entering a fifth consecutive month of contraction, the report found.
The employment sub-index showed 50.9 last month, flat from September, the only sub-index that signified an expansion trend last month.
The research institute started posting its PMI monthly report in January on a trial basis after the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) last year commissioned the CIER to initiate a program to publish Taiwan’s official PMI.
Earlier this month, HSBC’s manufacturing PMI report for Taiwan showed manufacturing entering its fifth straight month of contraction last month, with a PMI index of 47.8 points.
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