PREPARATIONS: Chemical goods production gained 6.51 percent from a year earlier, as businesses began to build up inventories amid rising crude oil prices

Taipei Times
Date: May 24, 2018
By: Kuo Chia-erh  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s industrial production index last month climbed 8.53 percent year-on-year to a record high of 102.94, roundly beating the government’s forecast of 5 percent on the back of robust demand for electronic components, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

The index gauges output in the nation’s five main industries: manufacturing, mining and quarrying, electricity and gas supply, water supply and architectural engineering.

The manufacturing production index, which accounts for about 92 percent of total industrial production, last month rose 9.07 percent annually to set a record of 103.52, the ministry said.

“Among the manufacturing industries, electronics component suppliers made the most significant contribution,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) told a news conference in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]