Taiwan Industrial Output Growth Eases; Retail Sales Rebound

(RTTNews) - Taiwan's industrial production growth remained strong but eased, while retail sales showed a slight increase in March, separate reports from the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed on Wednesday.

Industrial production advanced 13.65 percent yearly in March, much slower than the 18.21 percent surge in February.

Among the main sectors, the annual growth of manufacturing output eased to 14.71 percent from 19.29 percent, while mining and quarrying production contracted by 5.16 percent. Data showed that the electricity and gas supply segment also logged a decline of 5.31 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 0.55 percent from February, when it rebounded by 5.05 percent.

Another report from the statistical office showed that retail sales rose 0.4 percent in March, in contrast to a 3.8 percent drop in the prior month.

Sales at general merchandise stores grew 4.26 percent from last year, while the decline in sales of textiles and clothing in specialized stores eased sharply from 21.56 percent to 4.31 percent.