PETROCHEMICALS:Ongoing uncertainly on oil prices along with annual maintenance at a number of plants hurt the sector again last quarter, despite small improvements

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 19, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

Manufacturing fell short of government forcasts in the third quarter of this year, contracting for the seventh consecutive quarter due to worldwide crude oil and LCD panel price declines.

Production value declined by 1.6 percent annually to NT$3.11 trillion (US$97.16 billion) last quarter, Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed.

The ministry said production value for this quarter would grow from a year earlier on Apple Inc’s iPhone 7 launch.

“The value decline in the petrochemical and panel sectors offset the growth in the semiconductor sector,” Department of Statistics deputy director-general Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) said by telephone.    [FULL  STORY]