Steady global economic recovery boosted the nation’s machinery production value by 4.4 percent to NT$248.1 billion (US$8.27 billion) during the first five months of the year, after two straight years of contraction, according to a government report.
The main drivers of the growth during the first quarter of the year were metal cutting machine tools, mechanical parts and equipment used to manufacture electronics or semiconductors, and during the April-to-May period it was machinery used by textile or chemical engineering companies, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
That is because demand from the auto, aerospace, medical and tech industries turned more robust amid global economic recovery, pushing firms to increase their equipment investments for greater business expansion, it added.
For last month, “as output of machinery grew by more than 10 percent last month from a year ago, the country’s machinery production value is expected to continue increasing,” the ministry said in a reported released on Friday.
The production value of general machinery totaled NT$112.6 billion during the first five months of the year, while that of metal processing machines and machines used to make tech products amounted to NT$53 billion and NT$82.5 billion respectively in the same period, the ministry said.
According to the study, machinery exports increased 8.2 percent to US$10.16 billion during the first half of the year from the same period last year.
By country, exports to Europe grew the most, to US$1.42 billion during the January-to-June period, up 24.7 percent from a year ago, followed by exports to Japan at a 16.3 percent growth rate to US$632 million and exports to the US at a 13 percent growth rate to US$1.73 billion.
Exports to ASEAN countries rose 7.6 percent to US$1.68 billion during the first half of the year from a year ago, while exports to China and Hong Kong climbed only 1.1 percent to US$2.98 billion in the same period, remaining the country’s biggest machinery export destination.
However, machinery imports fell 1.5 percent to US$11.5 billion during the first and second quarter of the year from the same period last year, dragged mainly by imports from Europe and the US, according to the report.
During the first half of the year, machinery imports from Europe dropped 18 percent to US$2.35 billion from a year ago, while those from the US fell 4.3 percent to US$2.42 billion in the same period, the ministry said, without elaborating on the figures.
Imports from Japan, the nation’s largest machinery import source, grew 3.8 percent to US$3.77 billion during the first half of the year from a year ago, while imports from China and Hong Kong increased 14.1 percent to US$1.36 billion and those from ASEAN countries expanded 3.4 percent to US$1.06 billion, the report showed.
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