The nation’s industrial production index climbed by 3.07 percent last month from the same period last year, driven by rising output of semiconductors, steel and petrochemical goods, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The result marked the third consecutive month of annual expansion in industrial production, the ministry’s data showed.
That brought the industrial production index swinging back into positive territory for the first 10 months of this year to an increase of 0.21 percent from the same period last year.
“We are optimistic that overall industrial production this year can grow from last year,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) told a news conference.
The industrial production gauge measures output in five major industries: manufacturing; mining and quarrying; electricity and gas supply; water supply; and architectural engineering.
The manufacturing sector — which accounts for more than 90 percent of industrial output — rose 5.67 percent last month from the same period last year, the data showed.
The electronics components industry, which is a pillar of the manufacturing sector, rose 14.09 percent from a year ago, supported by production of semiconductors and flat panels, Wang said.
The base metal industry jumped 16.39 percent annually in production last month, mainly fueled by billets and hot and cold-rolled steels, she said.
The PC and optical components industry was the dark spot last month, plunging 8.72 percent from a year ago, due to falling production of smartphones and camera lenses used in handsets, Wang said.
The ministry forecast that industrial output could grow by as much as 5 percent year-on-year this month, on the back of a strong market response to consumer electronics due to holiday demand in the West, Wang said.
The recovering prices of global crude oil and base metals would help to boost production of petrochemical and steel products this month, she added.
Separately, the ministry said that the wholesale sector’s revenue grew 0.4 percent annually to NT$827.4 billion (US$25.95 billion) last month on rising demand for communications chips, flat panels and DRAM used in smartphones and servers.
The retail sector’s revenue expanded 0.4 percent year-on-year to NT$356.7 billion last month, while the food and beverage sector surged 6.8 percent annually to NT$37.2 billion, data showed.
The ministry forecast that Christmas and New Year holiday demand would help the wholesale sector’s revenue climb 0.1 percent this month from the same period last year, Wang said.
Singles’ Day shopping promotions and department stores’ anniversary sales are expected to help the retail sector’s revenue grow between 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent annually this month, she said, adding that department stores’ promotions are forecast to help the food and beverage sector’s revenue increase 5 percent this month.
In the first 10 months of this year, sales posted by the retail and food and beverage industries rose 1.8 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively, to NT$3.37 trillion and NT$366.1 billion, while revenue generated by the wholesale sector fell 3.1 percent year-on-year to NT$7.84 trillion, data showed.
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