Manufacturing sector posts 1st sales drop in 3 years

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/02
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 2 (CNA) The local manufacturing sector suffered its first year-on-year sales drop in three years in 2015 as many manufacturers’ pricing power was hurt by falling prices of international crude oil and steel products, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Citing statistics, the MOEA said that revenue generated by Taiwan’s manufacturing sector for 2015 fell 3.3 percent from a year earlier to NT$26.42 trillion (US$815 billion).

The oil/coal and chemical sectors witnessed sales for 2015 falling 29.7 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively, from a year earlier, to NT$1.51 trillion and NT$1.89 trillion, in the wake of the weakness of the global oil market, the ministry said.

A supply glut in the global steel market, which pushed down steel product prices, sent the local base metal sector into a tailspin, with the segment posing a 15.6 percent year-on-year decline in sales to NT$1.17 trillion in 2015, the ministry said.     [FULL  STORY]