Coming X'mas Season Drives Taiwan's IPI to All-time High of 112.56 in Oct.

Mainly driven by the upcoming Christmas sales peak in America and Europe, Taiwan's industrial production index (IPI) hit an all-time high of 112.56 in October, up 8.97% year-on-year (YoY) to be on uptrend for nine months, according to the latest statistics issued by Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

The electronic parts and components, PCs, electronics and optoelectronics, and machinery industries among others scored  conspicuous YoY growths of 16.34%, 17.69% and 14.93%, respectively, with IPI of 131.19, 96.26 and 100.59.

Mostly due to thriving semiconductor manufacturing business, MOEA noted that the integrated circuits sector has seen its production index rise for four consecutive months, to 164.18 in October, surging 32.47% YoY to drive the electronic parts and components industry's IPI to the second highest record in the history. MOEA mentioned that the industry's output is expected to slow in growth beginning in November, primarily due to passing of semiconductor sector's peak season.

Although showing banner growth, the PCs, electronics and optoelectronics industry's IPI, MOEA indicated, was still impacted by negative factors as  outmigration of local display panel assemblers, continuous decline of the LCD and related parts sector, and persistently weak market demand for touch panels and motherboards.

Fueled by stable global economic recovery and growing trend for industrial automation worldwide to trigger considerable market demand for machine tools, the machinery industry has witnessed its IPI rise double-digits five months in a row. However, MOEA warned, the industry's future faces the threat of the continuously weakening Japanese yen against the greenback, which is expected to further weaken  Taiwanese machine tool suppliers' price competitiveness against Japanese rivals. (SC)

IPI Growth in October by Industry
Industry	Electronic parts and components	PCs, electronics and optoelectronics	Machinery
IPI	131.19	96.26	100.59
YoY Growth Rate	16.3%	17.6%	14.6%

Source: MOEA