The nation's energy consumption rose for a fifth month in September because of increased demand from electronics companies.
Energy use increased 1.9 percent from a year earlier to the equivalent of 9.52 million kiloliters (59.9 million barrels) of oil in September, the Bureau of Energy said on its Web site. Manufacturers and other industrial companies accounted for 55 percent of consumption.
Electronics companies used more energy as customers increased orders to prepare for the year-end shopping season.
Production by the information and electronics industries soared 15 percent in September from a year earlier, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Oct. 24.
"The economy was robust, pushing up energy consumption in the industrial sector," the bureau said in a report, which wasn't dated.
Taiwan used 20.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in September, 0.7 percent more than the same month last year, it said.
For the first nine months of the year, energy consumption totaled the equivalent of 80.7 million kiloliters of oil, an increase of 2.7 percent from a year earlier, the bureau said. The information and electronics industry consumed 17 percent more energy than a year earlier during the period, while petroleum refiners used 9.5 percent more energy.
The steel industry consumed 2 percent less energy in the first nine months, the bureau said.
Taiwan bought 98 percent of its energy needs from overseas in September. Crude oil imports increased 8.3 percent from a year earlier to 5.1 million kiloliters in the month, the bureau said.
Coal imports increased 17 percent to 5.98 million metric tonnes, and those of liquefied natural gas climbed 9.5 percent to 858 million cubic meters, according to the bureau.
For the January-September period, imports of crude oil gained about 1 percent to 44 million kiloliters and LNG purchases rose 5.6 percent to 6.92 million cubic meters. Coal imports declined 1.5 percent to 45.5 million tonnes.
LNG accounts for about 95 percent of Taiwan's natural gas needs.
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