Business sentiment improved last month amid a bump in demand as economies reopened after COVID-19 lockdowns, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said yesterday.
Business sentiment in the manufacturing industry was 96.32, up for the third consecutive month by 5.9 points from a month earlier to the highest this year, TIER president Chang Chien-yi (張建一) said, attributing the pickup mainly to strong demand for semiconductors.
Taiwan is home to the world’s largest contract chip makers, designers and suppliers of electronic parts used in smartphones, notebook computers, TVs and other technology products.
As the US and Europe reopened their economies, orders increased among overseas customers, some of which were on hold amid pandemic lockdowns, Chang said.
Non-tech sectors continued to struggle, although the situation was less bleak, he said.
The ratio of firms with a positive business outlook shed 4.7 percentage points to 19.2 percent, while firms with a dim outlook fell 1.2 percentage points to 25.3 percent, the Taipei-based think tank’s monthly survey showed.
Most firms held a neutral view that virus infections might spike in the fall and winter, and weigh on business until a possible vaccine becomes available, Chang said.
Firms supplying transportation tools are particularly downcast, the survey showed.
The business climate reading for service-oriented sectors increased 3.24 points to 95.14, the fourth straight month of gains to a new high since June last year, the TIER said.
Summer is the high season for domestic tourism and travel bans have augmented the seasonality effect for hotels, restaurants and recreation facilities, Chang said.
The government-issued Triple Stimulus Vouchers helped ease the disruption, he said.
The sentiment measure for construction companies rose 8.9 percentage points to 108.43, the best since July 2011, the survey showed.
Pent-up demand and low interest rates shored up property transactions, Chang said, adding that TIER expects capital repatriation and supply-chain realignment to add to the growth momentum.
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