Industrial production last month declined 1.85 percent from January, but surged 20.34 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The monthly decline was mostly due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which dampened overall production last month, the ministry said.
It attributed the annual increase to a low comparison base last year, as the Lunar New Year holiday last year fell in February.
In the first two months of this year, industrial production increased 7.85 percent annually on the back of the contributions from the manufacturing sector, which saw output expand 8.27 percent, the highest in three years.
Throughout the two-month period, output from the electronic components industry — the manufacturing sector’s largest contributor — hit a record high as it soared 24.4 percent year-on-year, the ministry said, adding that growth was driven by increasing production across wafer and chip packaging foundries as the deployment of 5G technology picks up speed.
Output of the computer, electronic goods and optical components industry similarly posted a record high over the period, increasing 9.6 percent year-on-year.
The increase was due to the popularity of multi-camera smartphones and cloud-based applications, as well as growing production of optoelectronics, network and communication devices, and servers, the ministry said.
However, Taiwan’s non-tech industries saw output decline across the board in January and last month.
The chemical materials industry posted a 0.05 percent decline in production as state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣中油) petrochemical plant in Kaohsiung underwent a routine inspection, the ministry said, adding that the industry’s production was further affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Others — such as the machinery equipment industry and the automobile and auto parts industry, which posted annual declines of 13.89 percent and 2.64 percent respectively — were equally affected by the spread of the coronavirus, which cast a pall over market demand, the ministry said.
It said that output of the base metal industry contracted 2.33 percent year-on-year as international steel markets remained weak.
The ministry forecast an increase in production for the manufacturing sector due to upcoming 5G, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence applications, as well as due to Taiwanese companies moving production home, but said that uncertainties shrouding the global markets remain.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and plummeting crude oil prices, domestic production might suffer due to a reduction in market demand and investments, it said.
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