Taiwan’s industrial production index in January rose 8.14 percent year-on-year to 109.49, marking its 12th consecutive month of annual growth, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
“The good performance in January was mainly driven by the manufacturing sub-index, as many manufacturers shipped more products to clients in January ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays last month,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Yang Kuei-hsien (楊貴顯) told a press conference.
Thanks to the strong demand for handheld devices and LED lighting applications, Taiwan’s manufacturing sub-index, which accounted for 92.76 percent of industrial output, grew 9.7 percent from a year earlier.
Among the manufacturing sector, electronics, computers, semiconductors, optical modulators, machines and automobile all reported double-digit annual growth in output in January.
“Growing demand from automobile, information technology and aviation industries and the ongoing Taipei International Machine Tool Show has boosted domestic machine toolmakers to increase production output in January,” Yang said.
The output index of the chemicals industry declined 4.58 percent in January from a year earlier as manufacturers cut their production amid falling prices of crude oil, Yang said, adding that the fall in chemical output marks the sixth consecutive month of annual decline.
For last month, Yang said the ministry expects industrial output to decline from January due to fewer workings days because of the Lunar New Year holidays, but that it would still grow at least 5 percent annually thanks to continuing robust demand for handheld devices.
In a separate release, the ministry said domestic commercial sales, which include the wholesale, retail and restaurant sectors, dropped 0.6 percent annually to NT$1.2311 trillion (US$39.2 billion) in January.
Yang said the annual decline in January was mainly due to different dates for the Lunar New Year holidays compared with last year.
“The Lunar New Year holiday this year was later than last year, which delayed people’s demand for hosting year-end parties and grocery shopping for the holiday,” Yang said.
As a result, the sales of information technology and home appliance retailers declined 5.6 percent from a year earlier, while sales of food, beverages and tobacco also dropped 8.7 percent annually, Yang said.
Overall retail sales in January declined 5 percent to NT$338.4 billion, the data showed.
As for the wholesale sector, sales surged 1.6 percent from a year earlier to NT$857.8 billion in January, driven by the growing export orders for machine parts of 4G network and smart devices, Yang said.
Yang said the performance of restaurant sector was dragged down by the recent outbreak of avian influenza, causing sales to plunge 6.4 percent to NT$34.9 billion in January.
Yang said he expects the sales of Taiwan’s retail and restaurant sectors to grow year-on-year for last month owing to demand ahead of the Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day, while the wholesale sector might be affected by the fewer workings days.
Overall, the nation’s commercial sales are expected to grow slightly from last year, Yang said, without giving an estimate.
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