News
April PMI falls to 47.6
By ECCT staff writers
Taiwan’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for April fell to 47.6, down sharply from 52.7 in the previous month, according to the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER). This ended six straight months of readings above 50, signalling a substantial deterioration in the health of Taiwan’s manufacturing sector on fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
CIER vice president Wang Jiann-chyuan told an online news conference that the industry has emerged from concerns over supply chain disruptions after China resumed manufacturing activity, but fears remain over languid demand, if the eurozone, the US and some Asian markets remain closed to combat the virus.
The sub-index on new business orders fell 13 points to 37.1, while the industrial output gauge lost 9.3 points to 40.2. Firms reduced headcounts to cope with business declines, driving the employment measure down another 2.7 points to 46.5 while the sub-index on customers’ inventory rose 7.1 points to 50.5, according to the survey. Meanwhile, firms’ forecasts are bleak, dragging the six-month outlook to a record low of 25.7, the survey found.
Looking at the service sector, CIER’s non-manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (NMI) rose 0.2 points from a month earlier to 42.50 in April, but it continued to signal contraction for the third consecutive month.
