Production value reaches NTD 288 bn for Taiwanese producers

Manufacturers registered a slight growth (when compared with NTD 287.8 billion in 2018 H1), while the growth rate hit a record high when compared to the same period of the past several years. The share of the production value of Taiwanese vendors in Mainland China stands around 63%. The annual production value for 2019 is expected to reach NTD 652.8 billion, writes the Taiwan Printed Circuit Association (TPCA). TPCA indicates that - although the Sino-US trade war situation remains unclear in 1H/2019 and global smart phones and automotive markets are still in downturn - sales of products such as ABF substrate and rigid-flex PCB were stimulated, which in turn contributed to the growth in these product segments. At the same time, the growth of PC shipments drove the demand for traditional PCB (reaching a 47.1% growth rate). When combined with sales for rigid-flex PCB, the 1H/2019 Taiwanese cross-strait PCB industry has levelled on the level of 1H/2018. However, due to the decline in mobile phone shipments, the BT substrate segment experienced a rather deep recession, resulting in the compression of the overall production value of the substrate segment on the first half of the year. The overall growth rate for the substrate segment is -0.2%. Communication products and automotive electronics have been affected by the global economy, and the base period of last year was too high, which led to the decline of FPC and HDI boards by -5.6% and -2.0%, respectively. As for the second half of 2019, while bad news still prevail, reaching and surpassing the production value of the same period in 2018 remains a challenge. There are several key factors; the IMF, OECD, World Bank and other organisations have all lowered the global economic growth rate forecast for 2019. It shows that the uncertainties in the global economy (labouring under the trade disputes of various countries) not only affect the export value, but also compresses consumer consumption and corporate investments.