The nation’s manufacturing sector recorded a year-on-year increase in sales for the seventh consecutive quarter in the second quarter on the back of rising global demand, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday last week.
Data released by the ministry showed that the manufacturing sector generated NT$6.61 trillion (US$214.9 billion) in sales in the April-to-June period, up 6.6 percent from a year earlier.
The ministry said that the old-economy segment was the major beneficiary of rising product prices, partly because of higher international crude oil prices.
Suppliers of chemicals, and oil and coal saw revenue increases of 18 and 27.1 percent respectively from a year earlier to NT$572.1 billion and NT$469.2 billion in the second quarter, ministry data showed.
Revenue generated by manufacturers of base metals and machinery rose 16.6 percent and 16.7 percent respectively from a year earlier to NT$356.6 billion and NT$308.8 billion in the April-to-June period, the data showed.
Sales posted by the electronic components segment rose 7 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.33 trillion, reflecting rising demand for semiconductors, but the growth was compromised by a drop in flat-panel prices, the ministry said.
However, the computer and optoelectronics segment saw a 1.9 percent year-on-year decline in sales to NT$1.93 trillion in the second quarter due to slower demand for handheld devices and a delay in shipments of notebook computers, it said.
In the first half of the year, manufacturing sector sales totaled NT$12.88 trillion, up 3.6 percent from a year earlier, it said.
The sector’s growth in sales is expected to continue in the third quarter amid global economic growth, the ministry said, but added that the trade dispute between the US and China might have an effect.
The local manufacturing sector’s investments in fixed assets, such as production equipment and factory construction, was NT$228.3 billion in the second quarter, down 13.6 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
The electronic components business was the major source of fixed-asset investment, totaling NT$132.1 billion in the second quarter, although the figure was a year-on-year drop of 23.7 percent, the data showed.
The decline was due to a relatively high comparison base in the same period last year, when many makers of electronic components bought expensive production equipment instead of just building factories, the ministry said.
The chemical materials segment had the second-highest fixed-asset investment total of NT$17.3 billion in the second quarter, up 23.9 percent from a year earlier, largely on the back of new production equipment, it said.
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