TAIPEI: The nation’s manufacturing sector suffered its first year-on-year decline in sales in three years last year, as many manufacturers’ pricing powers were hurt by falling prices in international crude oil and steel products, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
Citing statistics, the ministry said that revenue generated by Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last year fell 3.3 percent from a year earlier to NT$26.42 trillion (US$815.97 billion).
The oil-and-coal and chemical sectors saw sales for last year falling 29.7 percent and 11.3 percent respectively from a year earlier, to NT$1.51 trillion and NT$1.89 trillion respectively, the ministry said.
A supply glut in the global steel market, which pushed down steel product prices, sent the local base metal sector into a tailspin, with the segment posting a 15.6 percent year-on-year decline in sales to NT$1.17 trillion last year, the ministry said.
The scales of the declines in the three sectors were the steepest on record, ministry data showed.
Last year, a plunge in flat-panel prices amid weakening demand, and a fall in contract chip makers’ shipments, had an adverse impact on the electronics component sector, which suffered a 4.5 percent year-on-year drop in sales of about NT$5.08 trillion, the ministry said.
It was also the first time the electronics component sector posted a year-on-year sales fall in three years, the ministry added.
Escalating competition and weakening demand led the machinery sector to post NT$989.2 billion in sales last year, representing a 1.2 percent year-on-year decline, the ministry said.
In the fourth quarter of last year, the local manufacturing sector’s sales fell 5.6 percent from a year earlier to NT$7.01 trillion, marking the third consecutive quarter in which the sector posted a year-on-year decline in sales, data showed.
However, fourth-quarter sales in the manufacturing sector rose 6.8 percent from the third quarter, the statistics indicate.
