Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month increased 2.4 percent and 4.1 percent respectively from a year earlier, accelerating from gains of 1.6 percent and 0.7 percent the previous month, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Retail sales were NT$400.9 billion (US$12.38 billion) last month, rising on an annual basis for the 33th consecutive month and the highest sales figure on record for the month of May, ministry data showed.
Sales were driven mainly by increased consumption at supermarkets, convenience stores and hypermarkets, as well as e-commerce sites, cosmetics outlets, automobile vendors and apparel shops, despite a drop in sales at department stores, information technology and consumer electronics shops, and fuel retail outlets, the ministry said in a report.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
In the first five months of this year, retail sales totaled NT$1.97 trillion, up 3.1 percent from a year earlier and the highest figure over the period, it said.
Sales in the food and beverage sector reached NT$84.9 billion last month, increasing year-on-year for the fourth consecutive month and a record for the month of May, the ministry said.
The ministry attributed the showing to Mother’s Day boosting restaurant sales, promotional activities that boosted beverage sales and steady demand for in-flight meals, which supported catering services.
From January to last month, food and beverage sales rose 4.8 percent year-on-year to NT$429 billion, also the highest figure for the five-month period on record, the ministry said.
Sales in the two sectors this month are expected to increase further, benefiting from Dragon Boat Festival promotions, school graduation events and the launch of new vehicle models, it said.
Retail sales this month are expected to grow 1 to 4 percent year-on-year to between NT$390.6 billion and NT$402.2 billion, while food and beverage sales would increase 3.8 to 6.8 percent to between NT$84.5 billion and NT$87 billion, the ministry said.
As for the wholesale sector, sales last month grew 12.6 percent annually to NT$1.08 trillion, increasing for a third straight month, on the back of rising shipments of machinery equipment, chemical materials, food and tobacco products, and clothes and apparel, the report said.
The increase was mainly due to customer demand for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing applications, inventory replenishment by non-tech manufacturers and restocking by channel clients ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival, the report said.
Cumulative sales in the first five months of the year grew 10.1 percent to NT$5.18 trillion, and sales this month would rise 10.3 to 13.3 percent annually to between NT$1.08 trillion and NT$1.11 trillion, the ministry said.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
CARBON REDUCTION: ‘As a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, we recognize our mission in environmental protection,’ TSMC executive Y.P. Chyn said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday launched its first zero-waste center in Taichung to repurpose major manufacturing waste, which translates into savings of NT$1.5 billion (US$46 million) in environmental costs a year. The environmental cost savings include a carbon reduction benefit of 40,000 tonnes, equivalent to the carbon offset of over 110 Daan Forest Parks, the chipmaker said. The Taichung Zero Waste Manufacturing Center is part of the chipmaker’s greater efforts to reach its net zero emissions goal in 2050, aligning with the UN’s 12th Sustainable Development Goal. The center could reduce TSMC’s outsourced waste processing
RSS