Taiwan's machinery output up 20% in Q1

Taipei, May 4, 2004 (CENS)--Taiwan's machinery industry saw its overall output value rise 20.5% from a year earlier to NT$116.5 billion (US$3.53 billion at US$1:NT$33) in the first quarter of this year, according to industry sources.

In terms of specific product categories, metal-cutting machine tools recorded the highest production value of NT$11.36 billion (US$344.24 million) in the first quarter, up 34.5% from the same period of last year. Metal-forming machine tools came in second with NT$4.59 billion (US$139.04 million), up 22% from the same period of last year; and non-conventional processing machinery industry followed with NT$580 million (US$17.57 million), up 6.3%.

Total production value of the industry will increase by 16% annually to reach over NT$529.6 billion (US$16.04 billion) this year.

Exports of the industry hit NT$97.54 billion (US$2.95 billion) in the first quarter of this year, up 14.7% from the same period of last year. Liu Hsin-hung, industry analyst of the Industrial Technology Intelligence Services (IT IS) Program Office, said the domestic machinery industry may easily break the NT$400 billion (US$12.12 billion) mark in output value this year. The IT IS Program Office is a specialized unit under the auspices of the Industrial Technology Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

At present, many domestic manufacturers of machine tools, including Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co., Falcon Machine Tools Co., Yeong Chin Machinery Industrial Co., Goodway Machine Corp., Roundtop Machinery Industries Co., Kao Fong Machinery Co., Rexon Industrial Co., and Awea Mechantronic Co., are experiencing a full run of production facilities and aggressively launching production expansion projects.

Thanks to the manufacturers' efforts to increase production capacity, total production value of the domestic machine-tool industry will surpass NT$79 billion (US$2.39 billion) this year, up 22.7% from last year's NT$64.456 billion (US$1.95 billion).

The production value of plastic and rubber processing machines reached NT$7.263 billion (US$220.09 million) in the first quarter, up 27% from the same period of last year; and the figure is expected to hit NT$34.148 billion (US$1.03 billion) for the entire year, up 14.6%.

Molds and dies registered NT$13.788 billion (US$417.81 million) in production value in the first quarter of this year, and their output value for the year is estimated at NT$61.1 billion (US$1.85 billion), up 22% from last year.

Thanks to the recovery of the high-tech and electronics industries, especially the semiconductor, thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) and printing circuit board (PCB), domestic machinery equipment manufacturers, including Advance Mechtronics Co. and Chin Fong Machinery Industrial Co., are enjoying substantial increase in orders. The local electronics and semiconductor manufacturing equipment industry registered production value of NT$3.7 billion (US$112.12 million) in the first quarter, up 63.6% from the same period of last year, and the value for the entire year is estimated at NT$17.4 billion (US$527.27 million), up 30% from last year.

Thanks to the promotion of delicate agriculture, recreation, and value-added tourism industries, domestic agricultural and gardening machinery enjoyed a 76.8% annual growth in output in the first quarter, its annual output value is projected to reach NT$5.376 billion (US$162.9 million) this year.

Mainland Chinese market is still the most powerful engine behind the substantial export growth of the domestic machinery industry. Mainland China absorbed NT$31.213 billion (US$945.84 million) worth of Taiwan-made machines in the first quarter, accounting for 32% of the total exports of the products. But export reliance on the mainland market saw a slight decline in the first quarter from one year earlier because of the substantial growth in such markets as Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the U.S. in the same period.

Exports of Taiwan's Machinery Industry in Q1, 2004 Unit:NT$1 million
Sectors	Q1	Annual Growth	Export Outlets
			Turkey	mainland China	United States
Overall machinery	97,540	14.7	1,561,561	31,213	18,825
Machine tool	17,528	29.8	806	7,449	1,297
Plastic & rubber machinery	7,391	27.0	118	2,890	126
Textile & apparel machinery	7,905	12.6	229	2,585	387
Woodworking machinery	7,157	38.0	100	1,353	3,528
Molds & dies	4,179	5.9	117	1,789	313
Source: Industrial Technology Intelligence Services Program Office