The manufacturing sector could recover and expand this month on the back of an increase in new orders, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday, after launching its first official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) report for Taiwan.
The Taipei-based think tank was commissioned by the Council for Economic Planning and Development to start work on a government-backed purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for Taiwan in November last year.
In collaboration with the Taiwan Supply Management Institute (中華採購與供應管理協會), CIER launched its pilot report in June, which was followed by five straight months of PMI reports on a trial basis, until the official launch yesterday.
The latest report showed that the PMI rose to 49.6 points last month from 46.7 a month earlier, indicating that manufacturing activity remained slow.
A PMI value of 50 indicates expansion, while a figure below it signifies contraction.
The composite PMI — a leading indicator of the economic outlook in the next three to six months — consists of five sub-indices: new orders, production, employment, inventories and supplier deliveries.
“Despite entering a fifth straight month of contraction, the pace of decline in the PMI slowed last month,” CIER president Wu Chung-shu (吳中書) told a press conference.
With the economy picking up, Wu expected the PMI to rise above the 50 mark this month.
Wu attributed his optimism to a rebound in new orders, which surged to 52.4 points last month from 42.5 in October, ending four straight months of contraction.
“The sharp rebound in new orders signaled further growth momentum for the PMI in the near future,” Wu said.
Production also ended four months of declines and stood at 51.1 points last month, up 5.2 points from October, the report showed.
However, employment, supplier deliveries and inventories remained under the 50-point threshold last month, standing at 49.9 points, 47.9 points and 46.5 points respectively, the report said.
Premier Sean Chen (陳冲), who also attended the press conference, said the PMI could show an uptrend next year amid a cautiously optimistic view of the economy for that year.
Citing the PMI’s role in gauging the near-term economic outlook, CEPD Deputy Minister Wu Ming-chi (吳明機) said the council planned to add the indicator to its composite economic monitoring indicators in the future. He did not specify when the council plans to make the adjustment.
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
‘SEISMIC SHIFT’: The researcher forecast there would be about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior year and erasing years of gains The global smartphone market is expected to contract 12.9 percent this year due to the unprecedented memorychip shortage, marking “a crisis like no other,” researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said. The new forecast, a dramatic revision down from earlier estimates, gives the latest accounting of the ongoing memory crunch that is affecting every corner of the electronics industry. The demand for advanced memory to power artificial intelligence (AI) tasks has drained global supply until well into next year and jeopardizes the business model of many smartphone makers. IDC forecast about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior
People stand in a Pokemon store in Tokyo on Thursday. One of the world highest-grossing franchises is celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday.
Zimbabwe’s ban on raw lithium exports is forcing Chinese miners to rethink their strategy, speeding up plans to process the metal locally instead of shipping it to China’s vast rechargeable battery industry. The country is Africa’s largest lithium producer and has one of the world’s largest reserves, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Zimbabwe already banned the export of lithium ore in 2022 and last year announced it would halt exports of lithium concentrates from January next year. However, on Wednesday it imposed the ban with immediate effect, leaving unclear what the lithium mining sector would do in the
RSS