Taiwan Moves Up to Sixth Place Among Machine Tool Producers
Apr 01, 2003 Ι Industry In-Focus
Ι Machinery & Machine Tools Ι By Ben, CENS
Taiwan moved up one spot to sixth place among the machine-tool producing nations of the world last year with a production value of US$1.57 billion, according to the authoritative Gardner Publications, a trade publications and research outfit. The island was also the fifth-biggest exporter of machine tools in 2002.
According to a Gardner survey, Japan slipped a notch to end up No. 2 last year for the first time in a decade. Germany moved up to take the top spot.
The top 10 machine-tool producers last year were Germany with US$6.73 billion in production value, Japan with US$6.37 billion, Italy with US$3.77 billion, mainland China with US$3.02 billion, the United States with US$1.91 billion, Taiwan, Switzerland with US$1.71 billion, Spain with US$862.2 million, South Korea with US$833.3 million, and France with US$812 million.
Among the leading machine-tool producing nations, only three registered increases in production value last year, including mainland China (up 15%), Taiwan (7%), and India (14%).
Germany topped the list of exporters in 2002 with overseas sales of US$3.88 billion, followed by Japan with US$3.43 billion, Italy with US$1.8 billion, and Switzerland with US$1.48 billion. Taiwan was in fifth place with an export value of US$1.45 billion, up 6% from 2001.
"Judging from our export growth," comments C.C. Wang, managing director of the Taiwan Machine Tool Foundation (TMTF), "Taiwan's machine-tool industry has recovered from the slump two years ago."
TMTF statistics show that Taiwan exported US$1.05 billion worth of metal-cutting machinery and US$390 million worth of metal-forming machinery last year, for annual increases of 3% and 17%, respectively. Exports of electric-discharge machines and machining centers declined, however, by 5% and 1%, respectively.
The island's imports of machine tools last year amounted to US$704 million, down 17% from 2001. Wang attributes the decline to weak demand for imported non-conventional machine tools by local semiconductor and other high-tech industries. This is significant, since non-conventional models accounted for 86% of Taiwan's total machine-tool imports in 2002.
"Taiwan's imports of machine tools have been concentrated in non-conventional metalworking machines during the past several years," Wang says. "Imports of some conventional metal-cutting machines, including milling machines, grinding machines, and gear-making machines, declined sharply last year. In the field of metal-forming machines, imports of stamping, pressing, and shearing machines slipped 3% last year, and those of other metal-forming machines plummeted 42%."
Wang predicts that conventional industries such as automotive and metal products will continue to cut back on their imports of conventional machine tools this year.
Thanks largely to a surge in orders received by Taiwanese manufacturers last year, Chen Jih-tung, chairman of the domestic Precision Machinery Research & Development Center (PMC), believes that machine-tool exports will strengthen by 10% this year. "The surge in overseas orders that we saw in the second half of last year has been continuing, and will most likely continue through the rest of the first half of this year," Chen explains. "Most domestic machine-tool manufacturers have seen a constant increase in foreign orders since the beginning of this year, and some foreign buyers are even asking them to shorten delivery times."
The chairman urges domestic manufacturers to take advantage of this period of export growth to beef up their marketing efforts and expand their share of the global market. To do that, he adds, "Domestic makers of machine tools should speed up their development of cutting-edge technologies so as to facilitate the production of intelligence-based added-value products featuring high precision, high machining speed, and multiple functions."
Source: Gardner Publications
According to a Gardner survey, Japan slipped a notch to end up No. 2 last year for the first time in a decade. Germany moved up to take the top spot.
The top 10 machine-tool producers last year were Germany with US$6.73 billion in production value, Japan with US$6.37 billion, Italy with US$3.77 billion, mainland China with US$3.02 billion, the United States with US$1.91 billion, Taiwan, Switzerland with US$1.71 billion, Spain with US$862.2 million, South Korea with US$833.3 million, and France with US$812 million.
Among the leading machine-tool producing nations, only three registered increases in production value last year, including mainland China (up 15%), Taiwan (7%), and India (14%).
Germany topped the list of exporters in 2002 with overseas sales of US$3.88 billion, followed by Japan with US$3.43 billion, Italy with US$1.8 billion, and Switzerland with US$1.48 billion. Taiwan was in fifth place with an export value of US$1.45 billion, up 6% from 2001.
"Judging from our export growth," comments C.C. Wang, managing director of the Taiwan Machine Tool Foundation (TMTF), "Taiwan's machine-tool industry has recovered from the slump two years ago."
TMTF statistics show that Taiwan exported US$1.05 billion worth of metal-cutting machinery and US$390 million worth of metal-forming machinery last year, for annual increases of 3% and 17%, respectively. Exports of electric-discharge machines and machining centers declined, however, by 5% and 1%, respectively.
The island's imports of machine tools last year amounted to US$704 million, down 17% from 2001. Wang attributes the decline to weak demand for imported non-conventional machine tools by local semiconductor and other high-tech industries. This is significant, since non-conventional models accounted for 86% of Taiwan's total machine-tool imports in 2002.
"Taiwan's imports of machine tools have been concentrated in non-conventional metalworking machines during the past several years," Wang says. "Imports of some conventional metal-cutting machines, including milling machines, grinding machines, and gear-making machines, declined sharply last year. In the field of metal-forming machines, imports of stamping, pressing, and shearing machines slipped 3% last year, and those of other metal-forming machines plummeted 42%."
Wang predicts that conventional industries such as automotive and metal products will continue to cut back on their imports of conventional machine tools this year.
Thanks largely to a surge in orders received by Taiwanese manufacturers last year, Chen Jih-tung, chairman of the domestic Precision Machinery Research & Development Center (PMC), believes that machine-tool exports will strengthen by 10% this year. "The surge in overseas orders that we saw in the second half of last year has been continuing, and will most likely continue through the rest of the first half of this year," Chen explains. "Most domestic machine-tool manufacturers have seen a constant increase in foreign orders since the beginning of this year, and some foreign buyers are even asking them to shorten delivery times."
The chairman urges domestic manufacturers to take advantage of this period of export growth to beef up their marketing efforts and expand their share of the global market. To do that, he adds, "Domestic makers of machine tools should speed up their development of cutting-edge technologies so as to facilitate the production of intelligence-based added-value products featuring high precision, high machining speed, and multiple functions."
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