The optimism level of Taiwanese businesses has dropped to a seven-quarter low, as factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, inflationary pressure and supply chain bottlenecks have not yet fully stabilized, business data and analytical insights provider Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) said on Friday.
The business optimism index is 108.1 this quarter, a fall of 18.8 percent from the previous quarter and a decline of 10 percent from a year earlier, marking its lowest level since the first quarter of last year, the US-based firm said in a report, based on a survey conducted from early June to early July.
The index comprises six sub-indices that gauge business sentiment toward sales volume, net profit, selling prices, new orders, inventory levels and workforce size.
Photo: CNA
The latest survey found that optimism levels of Taiwanese businesses for net sales, new orders and net profit were at their lowest in seven quarters.
Compared with the second quarter, all six sub-indices fell with businesses’ optimisim levels for sales volume, selling prices and new orders, declining more than 10 percent each, the survey showed.
“This survey was conducted in the middle of 2022 when the demand for some emerging technology applications in Taiwan continued to increase, the shortage of raw materials in the supply chain was gradually improving and the price of products rose, resulting in double-digit growth in trade in the first half of this year,” D&B said in the report.
“However, as the Russia-Ukraine war is still in a stalemate, it pushes up international energy and food prices and causes global inflationary pressure to rise continuously,” it said.
“As a result, Taiwan’s overall business optimism index dropped significantly in the third quarter,” it added.
While the manufacturing sector’s optimism level dropped to 104.7 from 138.5 in the previous quarter, sentiment in the services sector fared relatively better, with optimism falling to a lesser degree, to 113.4 from 126.4, the survey showed.
Among local industries, the most optimistic were hotels, restaurants and beverage stores in terms of new orders, net profit and retail prices.
Information and communication technology firms were most upbeat regarding sales volumes and staffing, while firms in the transportation industry were more pessimistic about sales volumes, net sales, new orders and workforce size, according to the survey.
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
RATIONING: The proposal would give the Trump administration ample leverage to negotiate investments in the US as it decides how many chips to give each country US officials are debating a new regulatory framework for exporting artificial intelligence (AI) chips and are considering requiring foreign nations to invest in US AI data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters. The rules are not yet final and could change. They would be the first attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since US President Donald Trump’s administration said it rescinded its predecessor’s so-called AI diffusion rules. Those rules sought to keep a significant amount of AI
RSS