Business confidence last month declined as companies fretted about US threats of “reciprocal” tariffs, but breathed a sigh of relief after Washington and Beijing agreed to step back from an all-out trade war, a survey by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) found yesterday.
Business sentiment among local manufacturers came in at 90.9, a drop of 3.53 points from March to a two-year low and down for three months straight, as firms sought unsuccessfully to make sense of US President Donald Trump’s trade policy.
Trump on April 2 announced heavy “reciprocal” tariffs on US trade partners, including 32 percent on Taiwanese goods, but declared a 90-day pause a week later.
Photo courtesy of TIER
The backdrop explained why only 18.2 percent of manufacturers reported better performance last month, a plunge of 14.4 percentage points from one month earlier, the institute said.
Meanwhile, companies that posted a decline in business soared 12.7 points to 37.4 percent, it said.
Asked about prospects, 22.9 percent expect their business to improve in next six months, rising from 19.4 percent one month earlier, while manufacturers with a pessimistic outlook dropped 3.7 percentage points to 29.2 percent, the survey showed.
The easing in trade tensions between the US and China late last month prompted global companies to take advantage of the 90-day respite and build inventory, despite lingering uncertainty, TIER Economic Forecasting Center director Gordon Sun (孫明德) said.
The Taiwanese economy might still grow 3 percent this year if Trump demonstrates flexibility and softens tariffs on imports from around the world, TIER president Chang Chien-yi (張建一) said.
Chang expressed hope that the US might set a 15 percent tariff on Taiwan’s goods if bilateral trade talks fare well.
The confidence reading on service providers weakened 3.03 points to 85.41, as financial firms and hospitality operators took a hit from the stock rout and the New Taiwan dollar’s sharp appreciation affected the profitability of exporters and life insurers, Sun said.
While private consumption held resilient and lent support to sales of wealth management products, economic uncertainties at home and abroad warranted a cautious approach in doing business generally, the economist said.
The sentiment gauge for construction firms and real-estate brokers slid 2.98 points to 90.38, falling for four consecutive months, TIER’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database researcher Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said.
Liu said the housing market has slowed for a while and might not turn around anytime soon, in light of the central bank’s continued loan restrictions and the US tariff drama.
Nvidia Corp’s plan to expand its presence in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) would benefit the neighborhood, but is not strong enough to bolster the whole market, Liu said.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Taiwan’s property market is entering a freeze, with mortgage activity across the nation’s six largest cities plummeting in the first quarter, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) said yesterday, citing mounting pressure on housing demand amid tighter lending rules and regulatory curbs. Mortgage applications in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 28,078 from January to March, a sharp 36.3 percent decline from 44,082 in the same period last year, the nation’s largest real-estate brokerage by franchise said, citing data from the Joint Credit Information Center (JCIC, 聯徵中心). “The simultaneous decline across all six cities reflects just how drastically the market
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
RSS