The production value of the nation’s machinery and equipment manufacturing industry declined year-on-year for the eighth consecutive quarter to NT$158.3 billion (US$5.17 billion) last quarter, a report said yesterday.
However, total machinery exports rose 9 percent year-on-year to US$5.28 billion last quarter, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
Last quarter, the production value of general machinery products grew 3 percent to NT$71.4 billion from the previous quarter, mainly because of increased orders for ball screw and linear rail systems that are used to make medical or semiconductor equipment, the ministry said.
Last quarter’s general machinery production value reflected a fourth straight quarterly expansion, “an indication of local firms’ competitiveness in the market,” said Yang Kuei-hsien (楊貴顯), deputy director-general of the ministry’s statistics department.
However, due to decreased orders of machine tools, metal processing machine products dropped slightly by 0.3 percent to NT$33.2 billion last quarter from the previous quarter.
On an annual basis, the figure represented a 10.75 percent drop, partly because of a high comparison base and also because of decreased demand for computer numerical control machines.
Taiwan Machine Tool and Accessory Builders’ Association secretary-general Carl Huang (黃建中) said machine makers are upbeat, adding that production value would achieve single-digit growth this quarter and more than 10 percent annual growth from NT$600 billion last year.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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