IDB Helps Firms to Develop Key Textile-trade Mechanical Parts

Taipei, April 7, 2008 (CENS)--The Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs recently commissioned the non-profit Precision Machinery Research and Development Center (PMC) to map out plans to develop key components for textile machinery. The IDB has budgeted tens of millions dollars to subsidize such project.

The IDB said the annual export value for domestically made textile machinery has stagnated at around US$34 billion for six years now, so to help makers develop key components and parts would enable them to revive their international competitiveness.

At present, Taiwan exports 80% to 90% of textile machinery, including the upstream yarn-spinning, dyeing equipment to shuttle looms, knitting machines to downstream sewing machines. By 2000 when the annual export value peaked at US$35.5 billion, the domestic textile machinery sector has seen its export value on the wane.

An industry insider said the flagging textile machinery industry is partly caused by the government's bias towards such popular sectors as machine tools, plastic and rubber processing machinery, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and TFT-LCD (thin film transistor-liquid crystal display) production equipment.

These key components for textile machinery to be developed by the PMC will include nozzles for shuttles looms, air-type dyeing machines, cam system for computerized jacquard-type knitting machines, needle plates, yarn-sorting devices, tense controllers, torque motors, and rollers.

The PMC said that Taiwan has to import the above-mentioned products as few domestic manufacturers are capable of developing such precision components. Those who claim to be able to turn out advanced textile machinery with in-house built key components in fact produce machines inferior to those developed by industrial leaders as Germany and Italy. So Taiwan suppliers generally quote prices for their textile machinery lower than that by German and Italian rivals in the international arena.

TAMI statistics show that Taiwan exported US$1.032 billion of textile machines in 2007, down 2.4% year-on-year.