Taiwanese Machine-tool Firms' Sales Surge in H1

Taipei, July 12, 2010 (CENS)--Thanks to the influx of orders, Taiwan's leading manufacturers of machine tools, including Hiwin Technologies Corp., Tongtai Machine & Tool Co., Kao Fong Machinery Co., Awea Mechantronic Corp. and Goodway Machine Corp., all saw sales double in the first half of this year from a year earlier.

The best performer was Kao Fong, whose half-year sales quadrupled that in the same period of last year. Awea said it has seen order visibility till the end of this year. Hiwin and Goodway are expected to enjoy significant sales growth beginning the third quarter of this year.

In contrast to earlier pessimism, Edward Yang, chairman of Goodway, said domestic machine-tool industry will see promising outlook in the second half as demand for high-tier automated production equipment is rising due to wage hikes in China.

Focused on linear-motion guidways, ball screws and industrial robots, Hiwin saw June sales reach US$20.15 million, hitting a historic high. An institutional investor predicted Hiwin to challenge US$21.73 million in sales in August, allowing it to meet 2010 sales goal of US$310.55 million.

Awea is expected to see June sales double year-on-year to reach US$7.48 million. With US$46.58 million orders in hand, the company sees order visibility till the end of this year. Goodway has orders totaling US$12.42 million. Institutional investors believed the company will see monthly sales recover to over US$6.21 million, or pre-meltdown level.

Tongtai's June sales grew a monthly 1.4 times to reach US$20.18 million to hit a historic high. Despite the slowdown in machine-tool orders, Tongtai's orders for PCB (printed circuit board) drilling machines is surging. The company shipped 73 sets of PCB drilling machines in June, with US$74.53 million backordered.

Kao Fong scored US$3.47 million in sales in June, almost the same as the previous month, but will see growth in sales in July as clients delayed delivery of orders for vertical machining centers.