Industrial production rose last month for the second consecutive month, thanks to stronger-than-expected overseas demand for smartphone chips and petrochemical products, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Output last month climbed 3.14 percent from a year earlier, buoyed by faster-than-expected manufacturing growth, ministry data showed.
The manufacturing sector rose 3.6 percent from a year ago, surpassing the ministry’s forecast growth of 1 to 2 percent, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) said by telephone.
“We thought June would be a slow month for the electronics sector, but the results turned out to be better,” Wang said. “Demand for semiconductors used in smart devices and petrochemical goods beat our expectations as a better world economy spurred demand.”
Semiconductor and LCD panel makers posted the fastest growth in the electronics component segment at 9.22 percent and 10.39 percent respectively, as buyers began restocking after drawing down inventories, Wang said.
As the electronics industry is entering its peak season next quarter, about half of the manufacturers in a ministry survey said they expect manufacturing to continue expanding this month, she said.
The growth in manufacturing output is forecast to accelerate to an annual rate of between 4 and 5 percent this month, Wang said.
“The optimism is extensive as various phone brands — from Apple Inc to Chinese mobile phone makers such as Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀移動) to Vivo Communication Technology Co Ltd (維沃移動通信) — are to launch new products in the second half,” she said.
Local manufacturers are not concerned about the impact of a potential delay in Apple’s new iPhone launch, as some reports have said, Wang said.
In a separate statement, the ministry said that wholesale revenue last month jumped 5.7 percent year-on-year to NT$851.9 billion (US$28.06 billion), benefiting from strong demand for mobile phone processors and memory chips, as well as petrochemical products.
However, retail revenue contracted 1.8 percent annually to NT$329.9 billion, primarily due to a 4.9 percent decline in new car sales as the effect of the government’s incentives for replacing outdated cars waned, the statement said.
Retail sales from food, drinks and tobacco dropped 3.4 percent year-over-year given a higher base last year, when the Dragon Boat Festival fell in June, it said.
Sales in the restaurant and beverage sector inched up 0.2 percent to NT$36.5 billion from a year earlier, as heavy rains affected people’s appetite for dining out, offsetting a small gain of 0.4 percent due to promotion campaigns, the statement said.
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