Taiwan's Big Machinery Firms Have Order Visibility Through Q2

Taipei, Feb. 21, 2012 (CENS)--Taiwan's machinery industry will be able to create NT$1 trillion in annual sales in 2012 as many leading firms have order visibility through the second quarter, says Eric Y.T. Chuo, chairman of the Taiwan Machine Tool Builders' Association (TMBA), adding that many machinery manufacturers saw first-quarter sales exceed expectations

The cross-Taiwan Strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) enabled Taiwan's machinery industry to achieve NT$960 billion in production value in 2011, up 6.6% year-on-year, and the industry's sales are expects to grow over 6% annually to exceed NT$1 trillion this year, including that of machine tools to total NT$150 billion and that of machinery components and parts to reach NT$180 billion. The TMBA estimates the domestic machine-tool sector and machine-tool components and parts sector to see production value grow 5% to 10% year-on-year and up between 10% and 15%, respectively in 2012.

Despite the still-lingering European sovereign debt crisis, Chuo is still confident that the domestic machinery industry will bottom out in the first quarter of this year and begin rebounding in the second quarter.

Chuo noted that domestic manufacturers of machinery and accessories are benefiting from obviously growing demand in the U.S., East Europe, India and Southeast Asia. While the U.S. is seeing a steady economic recovery, in the wake of the March 11 earthquake in northeastern Japan last year, many Japanese machinery firms have been building cooperation in both production and marketing with domestic concerns.

Founded five years ago, the TMBA has 600-odd members with total production value exceeding NT$600 billion.