In the second quarter, the Taiwanese hand tool sector achieved production value of NT$12.1 billion (US$372.3 million at US$1: NT$32.5), 16.6% less than that posted a year earlier but 4.3% more than that a quarter earlier, the first quarterly growth over the past two quarters, according to the statistics compiled by the ITRI (Industry & Technology Intelligence Services) of the Department of Industrial Technology, under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Taiwan`s hand tool sector also exported hand tools valued at some NT$11.1 billion (US$341.53 million) and imported NT$710 million (US$21.86 million) of such items, growing 7.1% and 23.5% respectively from those in the first quarter. Noteworthy is that the scale of the domestic market surged 15.9% quarterly to NT$1.71 billion (US$52.61 million), indicating that overseas demand has stayed relatively robust, helping to temper the effects of Taiwan`s lackluster GDP in the recent three quarters.
The ITRI statistics continue to show that, regardless of the still struggling American economy, the U.S. remains the biggest customer for made-in-Taiwan hand tools, 31.7% of which was shipped stateside in the quarter, while Germany, China, Japan and Canada respectively bought 5.9%, 5.6%, 5.5% and 4.4%. Overall, the top five nations bought 53.1% of Taiwan-made hand tools.
Product-wise, some NT$6.7 billion (US$193.84 million) of general hand tools were exported, as well as NT$2.3 billion (US$70.76 million) in wrenches, making the two categories the top-two most popular with international buyers. Also, some NT$1.35 billion (US$41.53 million) in pliers, tweezers and similar tools were shipped abroad, with some NT$630 million (US$19.38 million) in hand-tool sets exported in the quarter.
