Taiwan's industrial production contracted for the sixth straight month in February, though the pace of decline has eased considerably since January amid a strong recovery in mining and quarrying output, preliminary data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed on Thursday.
Separate official data showed that retail sales growth rebounded somewhat in February.
Industrial production fell 8.68 percent year-on-year in February, much slower than the revised 20.95 percent slump in the previous month, which was the steepest decline since May 2009.
Among the main sectors, manufacturing output declined the most, by 9.15 percent annually in February, followed by the electricity and gas supply segment with a 2.70 percent fall.
On the other hand, mining and quarrying output grew sharply by 24.46 percent in February compared to last year, reversing a 15.80 percent plunge in January. This was the first increase in four months.
On a month-on-month basis, industrial production slid a seasonally adjusted 4.53 percent from January, when it dropped by 3.2 percent.
Another report from the statistical office showed that retail sales advanced 4.6 percent annually in February, following a 4.3 percent gain in the prior month.
A 2.1 percent rebound in sales of food, beverages, and tobacco in specialized stores had a large impact on the current rising trend of retail sales in February. Sales of motor vehicles, motor cycles, and related parts in specialised stores jumped 26.9 percent.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
