Industrial production edged up 0.85 percent annually last month, beating the government’s forecast of flat growth due to better-than-expected output by traditional industries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
It marked the seventh consecutive month of year-on-year growth, albeit slower compared with October’s annual expansion of 2.55 percent, ministry data showed.
The manufacturing sector — which accounts for more than 90 percent of the nation’s industrial production — last month expanded 1.16 percent from a year earlier, data showed.
That follows a 3.1 percent increase over the previous month, data showed.
“The traditional industries, especially the machinery goods industry, were the main contributor last month, outshining contributions from the electronic components industry,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan told a news conference.
The machinery goods industry recorded its fourth straight month of double-digit percentage year-on-year increase, rising 17.65 percent last month on robust production of machine tools, semiconductor equipment, ballscrews and linear guideways, Wang said.
Automobile and auto parts added 5.85 percent annually in output, driven by growing orders for automotive lighting products and components for suspension systems from the North American and Chinese markets, she said.
The electronic components industry, which includes semiconductors and flat panels, saw only mild annual growth of 0.06 percent last month, mainly due to a higher comparison base last year, Wang said.
The soft expansion in the electronics industry was also due to a US smartphone vendor’s different launch schedule for its three new smartphone models this year, which affected production ramp-up for domestic semiconductor manufacturers, Wang said.
She declined to specify the US company, but Apple Inc’s iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus hit the market at the end of September, while shipments of the iPhone X started last month.
Overall, industrial production rose 3.2 percent year-on-year in the first 11 months of the year, data showed.
For this month, the ministry holds an optimistic outlook on industrial production, Wang said, citing a survey showing that 7,000 domestic companies from traditional and high-tech industries expect production would grow monthly and annually. |
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