The nation’s industrial production index surged by a better-than-expected 6.25 percent annually to 112.07 last month, supported mainly by the strong demand for electronics components, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
For the full year, industrial production rose 1.42 percent to 106.42, reversing the previous year’s decline of 6.17 percent and posting the second-highest result in the nation’s history, ministry data showed.
MANUFACTURING
The manufacturing index, which contributed more than 90 percent to industrial production, climbed 7.46 percent annually to 113.93 last month, the highest monthly result on record, the figures showed.
“Semiconductors and flat panels used in consumer electronics were the main growth drivers last month,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) said at a news conference.
Semiconductor production rose 30.12 percent, backed by inventory building ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays, while flat-panel manufacturing grew 13.8 percent, Wang said.
The production of basic metals and machinery goods also lifted the index by expanding 15.81 percent and 7.25 percent respectively, she added.
Industrial production regained momentum in the second half of last year, following international companies’ launches of new smartphones, Wang said, adding that a recovery in global prices of raw materials and crude oil supported the production momentum for basic metal products.
The ministry does not expect industrial production to decline for the rest of the year, Wang said.
The index is expected to grow at the same pace this quarter compared with a year ago, but should drop compared with last quarter’s 110.98 due to the beginning of the slow season for consumer electronics products and inventory digestion in the semiconductor industry, she said.
WHOLESALE
In a separate release, the ministry said that the wholesale sector saw revenues rise 2.5 percent year-on-year to NT$856.7 billion (US$27.25 billion) last month on the back of demand for chips, memory and flat panels that are used in consumer electronics products.
However, cumulative revenues contracted 1.9 percent to NT$9.54 trillion last year, mainly due to decreasing orders for computers and TVs from Japan, the ministry said in the report.
Revenue from the retail and restaurant and beverage sectors both continued to increase last month, rising 1.9 percent and 3.6 percent to NT$4.96 trillion and NT$439.4 billion respectively from a year ago, the data showed.
Wang said the ministry expects wholesale revenues to drop by 3 percent this month because of the slow season effect for consumer electronics goods.
By contrast, the retail and restaurant and beverage sectors could continue to grow on the back of holiday shopping demand, he said.
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