FLOUNDERING:The nation’s manufacturing sector slowed again last month due to a lack of domestic and international demand, as buyers look to avoid a supply glut

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 02, 2015
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) increased to 46.1 last month, from 45 in August, but still indicating further decline in operating conditions for industry due to slack demand from clients at home and abroad, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.

The grim results are consistent with a private PMI reading of 46.9 by Nikkei and Markit and suggests the slowdown has yet to bottom out, though the pace has eased slightly.

“The manufacturing industry has yet to come out of business deterioration, which could extend to the service sectors,” CIER president Wu Chung-shu (吳中書) said, as domestic demand is largely driven by exports.

The PMI is a leading indicator aimed at gauging the health of the manufacturing industry — with figures above 50 indicating expansion and below 50 signifying contraction — in light of new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times and stocks of purchases.     [FULL  STORY]