Taiwan Industrial Output Grows Sharply, Retail Sales Rise Further

(RTTNews) - Taiwan's industrial production continued to expand strongly in July, while retail sales expanded at a slightly slower pace, separate reports from the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed on Friday.

Industrial production advanced 12.30 percent year-on-year in July, extending from the 12.82 percent growth in June. Production has been rising since March.

Among the main sectors, manufacturing output alone surged 12.97 percent annually in July, and mining and quarrying production showed an increase of 9.93 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, industrial production dropped a seasonally adjusted 3.27 percent from June, when it fell by 0.61 percent.

Another report from the statistical office showed that annual retail sales growth eased somewhat to 3.36 percent in July from 3.85 percent in the prior month.

Sales at general merchandise stores rose by 1.90 percent, while sales of food, beverages, and tobacco in specialized stores dropped by 1.3 percent.