Taiwan’s industrial production index grew at a better-than-expected 6.49 percent annually to 111.56 points last month, supported by output from the electronics, machinery and chemicals sectors, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The index marked the 14th consecutive month of annual growth, data showed.
The growth momentum outpaced the market’s consensus estimate of 5.51 percent, a UBS report said.
The output for the manufacturing sub-index — which accounted for 92.76 percent of total industrial production — increased 6.97 percent from a year earlier to 112.84 points last month, the ministry said.
Output from the electronics and machinery sectors grew by double-digit percentages last month from the previous year, due to strong demand for semiconductors and machine tools.
“We are also surprised by the strong production of chemicals, as it surged 13.6 percent from a year earlier and jumped 16.07 percent month-on-month,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Yang Kuei-hsien (楊貴顯) told a press conference.
This suggests that the impact of falling global oil prices on Taiwan’s chemical products has gradually eased, allowing companies to increase production, Yang said.
Yang said the output of chemicals would continue to grow this month, but the average selling prices of chemical products might remain low, due to falling oil prices.
For the first three months of the year, total industrial production grew 5.73 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.
However, for this month, industrial production might decline slightly from last month, the ministry said, citing historical records and a traditional slow season for the electronics industry.
Industrial production for this quarter is expected to increase moderately from a year earlier, because of a high comparison base last year, Yang said.
Separately, the ministry said that domestic commercial sales unexpectedly dropped 0.9 percent to NT$1.1791 trillion (US$37.88 billion) last month from a year earlier, dragged by disappointing sales in the wholesale sector.
The wholesale sector, which accounted for 70.33 percent of total commercial sales, declined 1.5 percent year-on-year to NT$829.3 billion last month, mainly due to declining demand for notebook computers and TVs from Japan, which offset demand for electronics, Yang said.
The plunge in global steel prices dragged down the average selling price for construction materials in the wholesale sector, Yang said.
Revenues from the retail sector grew 1.3 percent to NT$315.5 billion from a year earlier, while sales in the restaurants sector grew 1.9 percent annually to NT$34.3 billion, the data showed.
Yang said the recent scandal over domestic beverage chains using tainted tea leaves for their products would affect the sales in the restaurants sector, but it is still too early to evaluate to what degree.
Overall, Yang said commercial sales this month are expected to be flat from last month, as food-related scandals, and declining demand for notebook computers and TVs from Japan might reduce growth momentum generated by shopping demand for Mother’s Day.
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