Taiwan Business Indicators in March 2010
Press Release
Council for Economic Planning and Development
April 27, 2010
In March 2010, Taiwan Business Indicators indicated that economy has been picking up steadily. Among the indicators compiled by the Cabinet’s Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), the annualized six-month rate of change of leading index decreased 3.4 points, the trend-adjusted coincident index rose by 2.3 % from the previous month, and the overall monitoring indicator flashed the "red" signal for the third consecutive month.
1. Leading Indicators: With revised data, the composite leading index stood at 109.3, up by 0.3% from February. Its annualized six-month rate of change declined by 3.4 points to 16.9%. Among the seven indicators making up the trend-adjusted index, index of producer's inventory for manufacturing, SEMI book-to-bill ratio, stock price index, and real monetary aggregates M1B had negative cyclical movement from previous month. Average monthly overtime in industry and services, building permits, and the index of export orders had positive cyclical movements from previous month.
2. Coincident Indicators: With revised data, the coincident index stood at 111.5, up by 2.2% from February. Its trend-adjusted index rose by 2.3% to 111.1, with increasing for the fourteenth consecutive month. The increasing coincident index largely came from the positive cyclical movements in electric power consumption, sales index of wholesale, retail, and food services, real customs-cleared exports, and real imports of machineries and electrical equipments.
3. The Monitoring Indicators: The total score in March increased 1 point to 39, flashing the "red" signal for the third consecutive month. Among the nine components, sales index of wholesale, retail and food services gained one point and changed its individual light signal from "yellow-red" to "red". The light signals for the rest of eight components remained unchanged.
~~ The next release is scheduled for May 27, 2010 ~~