Taiwan's Industrial Production Index for Feb. Rebounds 8.22% Yearly

Taipei, March 27 2012 (CENS)--Taiwan's manufacturing industries are poised to grow steadily, as the island' industrial production index for February rebounded 8.22% yearly to 123.02 and is estimated to keep trending upward month by month this year for a variety of reasons, according to Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Huang Ji-shih, director general of the ministry's statistic department, pointed out that the four main manufacturing industries of metal products and machinery, information technology devices and electronics, chemicals and basic supplies, all recorded higher output in the month than a year ago to drive the growth of the index.

Citing local wafer and semiconductor manufacturers, Huang emphasized that the sector improved its overall capacity utilization rate to over 90% in the month as the major growth engine, while most manufacturing industries also ran at about 70% capacity.

Separately, Huang went to note, the sector of electronic parts and components turned out 0.95% more than a year ago, due mainly to a stable global economy triggering end-user demands. The chemical material sector also enjoyed a 3.33% growth in output, reversing a decline seen in the past 11 consecutive months that was caused by oil prices hikes following political riots in Middle East and North Africa. The sectors of computer and electronic devices and chemical products both scored a 29.49% output growth in February due mainly to the launch of new smartphone and tablet models.

Huang analyzed that Taiwan's export-driven manufacturing industries may keep enjoying output increase in the months to come, partly because of a mild economic recovery in the U.S. and the easing of EU's debt crisis, and partly because of robust market demand in emerging countries.

However, Huang also admitted, whether Taiwan's manufacturing industries can maintain the momentum or not depends partly on whether exports would be dampened by some negative factors, including skyrocketing international oil prices, an economic slowdown in China and increasingly global rivalry of emerging competitors.

Meanwhile, an MOEA survey of local manufacturers indicated that 17.67% of local manufacturers polled believe they can record higher production in March than in February, 78.19% opine their output would remain unchanged, and only 4.14% are pessimistic about a production decline. Hopefully, MOEA officials noted that the industrial production index will surge to 130.49 in March.