Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/09/2020
By: Wu Po-wei and Frances Huang

Taipei, May 9 (CNA) Taiwanese manufacturers saw a sales drop of almost 3 percent in 2019, amid a trade war between the United States and China, but their spending on research and development (R&D) rose to a five-year high, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

MOEA data indicated that with the Washington-Beijing trade dispute sending ripples through the global economy and dragging down raw material prices, the revenue of manufacturers listed on the stock market fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier to NT$16.5 trillion (US$552 billion).

Nonetheless, manufacturers here continued to invest in R&D, spending NT$460.8 billion in 2019, an annual increase of 7.9 percent, the highest amount and biggest growth in five years, the data showed.

In 2019, the old economy sector was hardest hit by the U.S.-China trade war and falling product prices, the data indicated.    [FULL  STORY]