Sales generated by Taiwan's wholesale sector increased 8.8 percent year-on-year last year to NT$12.95 billion (US$396.24 million), the highest level on record and reversing the previous year’s decline of 6.9 percent, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Thursday.
The growth in the sector’s annual sales beat the ministry’s forecast last month of a 7.9 percent to 8.2 percent increase, ministry data showed.
The increase came as sales last month grew 9.5 percent year-on-year to US$1.17 billion, rising for the 10th consecutive month and exceeding the ministry’s forecast of an increase of 3.5 to 6.5 percent.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The better-than-expected performance was mainly attributable to the machinery equipment industry, which posted a 25.1 percent year-on-year sales increase last month to NT$545.6 million, contributing about 44 percent of the sector’s overall revenue last month, the ministry said.
“The machinery equipment industry has benefited from the booming development of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and high-performance computing,” the ministry said in a report, adding that restocking demand ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday also partly contributed to the sales growth.
As the Lunar New Year holiday falls in January this year, versus February last year, the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry, and the food, beverage and tobacco industry posted higher sales last month due to restocking ahead of the holiday, increasing 13.5 percent and 3.3 percent year-on-year to NT$64.4 million and NT$133.2 million respectively, the ministry said.
The chemical materials industry also had a strong performance last month, with sales rising 15.5 percent year-on-year to NT$52.3 million, the ministry said, citing recovering demand for industrial chemical materials and a low comparison base a year earlier as the main reasons.
On the other hand, the automotive industry posted a 5.5 percent year-on-year sales decline last month to NT$85.8 million, given less orders from auto distributors and a high comparison base, it said.
For this month, sales for the wholesale sector would post a decline of 3.1 percent to 6.1 percent from last month, as the Lunar New Year holiday reduced the number of working days, the ministry said.
The diffusion index compiled by the ministry — a gauge of firms’ sales expectations for the following month — fell from 50.1 in November to 36.3 last month and was below the threshold of 50, which also suggests a cautious outlook, it added.
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