The government’s business climate monitor last month flashed “green” for a second consecutive month, as the nation’s economy grew steadily on the back of robust export demand, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday.
Major economic barometers, such as industrial production, manufacturing sales and business sentiment increased, raising the total score one point to 27, the council said.
The council uses a five-color system to portray the nation’s economic state, with “green” indicating steady growth, “red” suggesting overheating and “blue” signaling a recession. Dual colors mean it is in transition.
Photo: CNA
Exports might be boosted further with the release of new consumer electronics by global technology titans ahead of the holiday season next month and in December, council research director Wu Ming-huei (吳明蕙) said, referring mainly to Apple Inc’s new iPhones.
Taiwanese companies supply chips, camera lenses, casings, battery packs and other components for the popular mobile phones.
Domestically, wholesale and retail operators, as well as food and beverage providers, all reported a significant upturn in business, bolstered by national holidays and the government’s Triple Stimulus Vouchers, which were used to boost consumer spending, the council said.
The gauges on exports and imports of capital equipment shed amounts attributable chiefly to the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar and fewer working days, Wu said, adding they should not be taken as signs of losses of momentum.
Exports posted a strong showing in US dollar terms, but the council calculates the nation’s economic data using the NT dollar, she said.
Foreign exchange has become less of a threat to companies with a lead in technology that are prepared for financial volatility, the council said.
The series of leading indicators, used to predict the economic outlook in the coming six months, rose 1.63 percent to 105.77, backed by better export orders, manufacturing sentiment and labor accession rates, as well as new construction floor space, the council said.
Only the reading on real imports of semiconductor equipment registered a negative cyclical movement from a month earlier, it said.
The leading indicators have accumulated a 7.35 percent increase over the past six months, affirming that the recovery is stable, Wu said.
“Invest in Taiwan” programs would continue to lend support, she added.
The council said that the index of coincident indicators, which reflects the current economic situation, rose 1.12 percent to 102.39, gaining for the fourth consecutive month.
Apart from strong retail and wholesale revenues, power consumption and manufacturing sales data were also encouraging, it said.
The council would be on the lookout for downside risks linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the US presidential election, it added.
STRONG INTEREST: Analysts have pointed to optimism in TSMC’s growth prospects in the artificial intelligence era as the cause of the rising number of shareholders The number of people holding shares of chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) hit a new high last week despite a decline in its stock price, the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC, 台灣集保) said. The number of TSMC shareholders rose to 2.46 million as of Friday, up 75,536 from a week earlier, TDCC data showed. The stock price fell 1.34 percent during the same week to close at NT$1,840 (US$57.55). The decline in TSMC’s share price resulted from volatility in global tech stocks, driven by rising international crude oil prices as the war against Iran continues. Dealers said
PRICE HIKES: The war in the Middle East would not significantly disrupt supply in the short term, but semiconductor companies are facing price surges for materials Taiwan’s semiconductor companies are not facing imminent supply disruptions of essential chemicals or raw materials due to the war in the Middle East, but surges in material costs loom large, industry association SEMI Taiwan said yesterday. The association’s comments came amid growing concerns that supplies of helium and other key raw materials used in semiconductor production could become a choke point after Qatar shut down its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and helium output earlier this month due to the conflict. Qatar is the second-largest LNG supplier in the world and accounts for about 33 percent of global helium output. Helium is
China is clamping down on fertilizer exports to protect its domestic market, industry sources said, putting an additional strain on global markets that were already grappling with shortages caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. China is among the largest fertilizer exporters — shipping more than US$13 billion of it last year — and it has a history of controlling exports to keep prices low for farmers. Shipments through the war-blocked Strait of Hormuz account for about one-third of the sea-borne supply. This month, Beijing banned exports of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer blends and certain phosphate varieties, sources said. The ban, which has not
AMAZING ABUNDANCE: Elon Musk has announced plans for a new facility in Texas which would manufacture chips for Tesla and SpaceX to use in robotics and AI Elon Musk said his Terafab project — a grand plan to eventually manufacture his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and space data centers — would be built in Austin and jointly run by Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX). Musk, the chief executive officer of the two companies, said he would start off with an “advanced technology fab” in Austin that would have all of the equipment necessary to make chips of any kind. The project would call for one day supporting 1 terawatt (TW) of computing power per year, the amount Musk expects the companies to
RSS