SMART AND FRIENDLY:After an initial weekend of record sales, new Apple Inc devices failed to impress consumers last year and manufacturers are feeling the bite

Taipei Times
Date:  Jan 05, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) stood at 46.6 last month, up from 45.1 in November, as local manufacturers have yet to finalize inventory adjustments due to tepid external demand and the absence of any major innovations for technology devices, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.

Operating conditions for the manufacturing industry have deteriorated over the past six months, and firms have dim business outlooks, the Taipei-based think tank said.

“Despite the easing pace of deterioration, the global slowdown has yet to bottom out judging from the latest data,” CIER president Wu Chung-shu (吳中書) told a media briefing.

The December data confirmed a disappointing year for Taiwanese firms’ exports and industrial output, both of which might drop to their lowest levels since the global financial crisis struck in 2008 to 2009.

The PMI seeks to gauge the health of local manufacturers, with scores above 50 signifying business expansion and values below the neutral mark indicating contraction.     [FULL  STORY]