The production value of the nation’s manufacturing sector last quarter plunged 15.01 percent on an annual basis to NT$3.16 trillion (US$96.17 billion) — its worst showing since the first quarter of 2010 — the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The figure shows that the sector’s decline has accelerated from the second quarter’s 9.21 percent fall, and marks the steepest decline since the global financial crisis in 2009, the ministry said.
On a quarterly basis, the sector’s production value declined 5.14 percent.
“The manufacturing sector’s production value in the past quarter was heavily influenced by the fall in global crude oil prices and a decline in the value of basic metals,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Yang Kuei-hsien (楊貴顯) said by telephone, adding that the drop in oil prices affected demand for Taiwan’s petrochemical products.
“Average oil prices in the third quarter plunged more than 50 percent on an annual basis,” he said.
Due to its economic slowdown, China’s third-quarter orders for Taiwan’s petrochemical products fell steeply from the same period last year, Yang said.
As a result, the production value of the nation’s petrochemical products plummeted 25.13 percent on a yearly basis, he said.
The production value of the nation’s basic metals dropped 27.55 percent year-on-year in the July-to-September quarter, mainly due to a fall in average selling prices and a global oversupply of stainless steel, Yang said.
The electronic components industry, which is the pillar of the nation’s manufacturing sector, saw production value drop 8.45 percent last quarter on an annual basis due to soft demand for consumer electronics products and fierce global competition, he said.
Within the electronic components industry, the production value of flat panels fell 20.27 percent year-on-year and that of machinery goods slowed 7.33 percent in the last quarter, the ministry’s data showed.
The solar power industry was one of the few bright spots in the nation’s manufacturing sector last quarter, Yang said, with production value increasing both annually and quarterly.
“Taiwan’s solar power industry has slowly moved out from the shadows of the US’s anti-dumping tariffs issue. In addition, China’s demand for the nation’s solar power is growing strongly,” Yang said.
Robust demand for Taiwan’s solar power products is expected to maintain into this quarter, he said.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
RSS