MANUFACTURING:The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Yang Kuei-hsien said that the manufacturing sector’s inventory was down on weak demand for smartphone chips

Taipei Times
Date:  Dec 24, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Industrial production dropped 4.94 percent annually last month, mainly because of soft demand for consumer electronics, which stalled production in the electronic components industry, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

Last month’s industrial production marked the seventh consecutive month of annual declines, the ministry said.

The government’s industrial production gauge measures output in five major industries: manufacturing, mining and quarrying, electricity and gas supply, water supply and architectural engineering.

The latest production gauge showed that output from the manufacturing sector — which accounts for more than 90 percent of industrial output — dropped 5.03 percent last month from the same period last year.     [FULL  STORY]