SEASONALITY:Traditionally, the first half is the low sales season for tech products, but inventory build-up now takes place six months ahead of new product launches

Taipei Times
Date: May 03, 2017
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The nation’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 61.0 last month, easing from 65.2 in March, as local manufacturers reported improved business, although the pace was tempered, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.

“The latest figure suggests continued expansion across the manufacturing sector except textiles and food product suppliers, thanks to strong demand for electronics and optical devices,” CIER president Wu Chung-shu (吳中書) told a news conference.

Despite the slowdown, the PMI stayed comfortably above the neutral mark of 50 as local firms started to benefit from inventory build-up for next-generation electronic gadgets, Wu said.

PMI data aim to capture the health of the manufacturing industry, with scores above 50 indicating expansion and those below suggesting contraction.    [FULL  STORY]