News
July PMI rises to 54.1
By ECCT staff writers
Taiwan’s Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for July rose back into positive territory for the first time in four months. According to the monthly report by the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), the PMI rose 6.9 points from 47.2 points in June to 54.1 in July, marking the first reading above the neutral level of 50 since March, indicating an expansion in activity for the next six months.
According to CIER’s report, both manufacturers’ new orders and production turned positive as their indices rose 14.1 and 13.0 percentage points to 56.7 and 58.3, respectively. Manufacturers’ employment expanded following four months of contraction as the seasonally adjusted Employment Index increased 6.5 percentage points to 51.7.
According to CIER, manufacturers believe that their customers still have insufficient inventories on hand for two consecutive months, while manufacturers are paying higher prices for the second consecutive month as the Price Index registered 0.7 percentage points lower than the 57.9 level in June.
In addition, both the New Export Orders and Imports Indexes rose to 52.5 and 50.7, respectively although the Future Outlooks Index remained in contraction in July at 49.3. Of the six manufacturing industries categories, five are reporting growth: Foods & Textiles (66.9%), Transportation Equipment (61.4%), Chemical, Biological & Medical (57.1%), Electronic & Optical (53.2%) and Basic Materials (50.7%). Only Electrical & Machinery Equipment (47.3%) still remained in contraction in July.
