The manufacturing industry saw its growth accelerate in January from a stable state in the previous month, with an index gauging the sector’s health at “yellow-red” for the first time since September 2010, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said yesterday.
The think tank attributed the upward trend to a gradual recovery around the world — as an increasing number of countries have launched programs to vaccinate their residents against COVID-19 — and to the booming stay-at-home economy, which has increased demand for electronics.
The manufacturing sector has also benefited as businesses increased inventories prior to the Lunar New Year holiday.
Photo: CNA
Outputs from traditional industries were also robust, thanks to strong consumption and further increasing demand for raw materials, the institution said.
As a result, the composite index for the local manufacturing sector in January rose to 16.79 points — the first “yellow-red” indicator in 10 years — from 13.43 in December last year, TIER data showed.
The institute uses a five-color system to indicate economic activity, with red signaling overheating, yellow-red showing rapid growth, green representing stable growth, yellow-blue sluggish growth and blue reflecting a contraction.
Within manufacturing, economic activity continued strongly — with the indicator at “red” — in the information sector, and the electronic parts and components sector.
“Overall, the domestic manufacturing sector remains set to enjoy optimistic prospects,” the institute said in a news release yesterday.
Looking ahead, the institute said that the COVID-19 pandemic and unstable trade relations between the US and China would continue to challenge the global economy.
Nevertheless, continuous expansion in 5G, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence, increasing demand in the stay-at-home economy and advanced production techniques in the semiconductor sector are expected to foster growth of the electronics and information sectors, the institute added.
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