The nation’s wholesale sector last month posted sales of NT$896.2 billion (US$29.38 million), down 1.3 percent year-on-year as the machinery equipment sector faced a setback, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
A decline in demand for flat panels and laptops as well as flagging prices of DRAM, the sector’s sales contracted slightly by 0.1 percent year-on-year to NT$357.2 billion, but the fall was cushioned by strong sales of new smartphones models, the ministry said.
The construction materials industry and the chemicals industry also reported declines of 9 percent and 8.5 percent to NT$93.3 billion and NT$46.3 billion respectively, due to sluggish international market demand and flailing petrochemical raw materials prices, it said.
The food, beverages and tobacco industry saw a 4.2 percent rise in wholesale revenue to NT$99.4 billion, thanks to growing sales of imported wines and promotional events, the ministry said.
The automobile industry saw an annual increase in revenue of 4.5 percent to NT$72.2 billion on the back of strong sales of new models, as well as the delay in September shipments due to Typhoon Mitag, the ministry said.
In the first 10 months of the year, the wholesale sector saw revenue contract by 2.9 percent year-on-year to NT$8.49 trillion, the ministry said.
The ministry also released trade data for the nation’s retail and food-and-beverage sectors, with the retail sector generating sales of NT$340.7 billion last month, up 4.2 percent year-on-year, while sales generated by the food-and-beverage sector up 4.3 percent to NT$64.6 billion.
The ministry said the growth in retail sector's sales was mainly driven by hefty sales of general merchandise and vehicles that amounted to NT$116.7 billion and NT$57.3 billion respectively, while strong e-commerce and catalog sales totaling NT$16.8 billion contributed to the increase, it said.
Sales of fuel and home appliances declined to NT$21.9 billion and NT$17.5 billion respectively on flagging oil prices and a shrinking number of Chinese tourists, the ministry said.
The retail sector in the first 10 months of the year saw a 2.9 percent year-on-year increase in sales to NT$3.16 trillion, while the food-and-beverage sector's sales increased 4.5 percent to NT$675.4 billion over the period, the data showed.
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