The nation’s industrial production index hit 109.1 last month, up 10.3 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday, citing robust demand for electronics products.
The sub-index for the manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the entire industrial production index, also rose 11.03 year-on-year to 109.26, but dropped 1.08 percent month-on-month, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Yang Kuei-hsien (楊貴顯) said.
“The sub-index for the electronics parts industry posted 132.47, up 19.59 percent year-on-year and up 1.96 percent from August,” Yang said, adding that the launch of new smartphone products, wearable products and applications for the Internet of Things (IOT) have boosted production.
The Christmas shopping season in the US and Europe is likely to continue to drive industrial production this quarter, he said.
However, global uncertainties such as the slowing economic recovery, declining fuel prices and intensifying international competition might negatively affect the nation’s industrial production, he said.
Separately, the ministry yesterday said commercial sales for last month increased 2.5 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.2452 trillion (US$40.97 billion), up 3.2 percent month-on-month.
Commercial sales include revenues generated by the wholesale, retail and restaurant sectors. Last month, retail sales totaled NT$880.9 billion, up 2 percent year-on-year and 5 percent month-on-month, due to strong sales in the automotive sector and the release of new wearable products, Yang said.
However, the restaurant sector declined 0.8 percent year-on-year and fell 10.2 percent month-on-month to NT$32.7 billion last month because of the cooking oil scandal, he said.
The production volume of cooking oil products totaled 13,888 tonnes last month, down 30.53 percent year-on-year and 37.92 month-on-month.
The production volume of instant noodles and noodle products also dropped 25.58 percent year-on-year and 52.53 percent month-on-month to 1,708,000 cartons last month, according to the ministry’s statistics.
Those figures suggest that the nation’s restaurant sector has been affected by the oil scandal.
“Many have chosen not to eat out after the food safety issue occurred,” Yang said.
“Given that the government has been handling the oil scandal quite quickly, we can expect the negative impact on the restaurant sector to ease in the fourth quarter,” Yang added.
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