Industrial production this month is likely to be flat or decline from last month, after the nation posted a second consecutive month of annual decline in output last month, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Industrial production dropped 1.35 percent year-on-year last month, following an annual decline of 3.17 percent in May, the ministry said in a report.
“Industrial production momentum appears to be remaining soft because of high inventory levels in the semiconductor and flat-panel industries, so we do not rule out seeing another annual decline this month,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Yang Kuei-hsien (楊貴顯) said.
Citing the ministry’s monthly survey of local manufacturers, Yang said the inventory-to-sales ratio for the manufacturing sector is about 70 percent, higher than a healthy level of between 60 percent and 65 percent.
In addition, local manufacturers also face uncertainties over orders in Europe and slower economic growth in emerging markets, Yang said.
“The pace of inventory digestion in the manufacturing sector will also play a key role in whether the nation’s industrial production turns from an annual decline to an increase this quarter,” Yang added.
The report indicated improvements in the production of semiconductor testing devices and optical components, but output of the electronic components industry — integrated circuit substrates, flat panels, LED chips, computer electronics goods and optical components — were still on the decline last month.
Separately, domestic commercial sales dropped for a fourth straight month last month, down 3 percent to NT$1.197 trillion (US$38.06 billion) from a year earlier, affected by declining revenue in the wholesale sector, the ministry said in a separate report.
This saw commercial sales last quarter plunge by 3.1 percent annually to NT$3.533 trillion, the ministry said.
The wholesale sector, which accounted for 69.09 percent of all commercial sales, saw revenue drop 4.5 percent annually to NT$826.9 billion last month, mainly due to declining purchases from Japan and weak demand for building materials, Yang said.
Sales in the retail sector grew 0.4 percent to NT$334.3 billion last month from a year earlier, driven by an increasing number of chain operators and Dragon Boat Festival sales promotions.
Revenues in the food and beverage sector increased 0.9 percent annually to NT$35.6 billion last month, the ministry said.
Yang said the outlook for the food and beverage, and retail sectors remains positive this month, but the wholesale sector faces lower purchases from Japan.
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
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last