A survey of Taiwanese manufacturers has found that business sentiment in May dropped to its lowest level for almost two years. The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research says its indicator value fell for the fifth consecutive month. May’s number is the lowest since July 2020.
The institute says that although semiconductor chip manufacturing, packaging and testing are still in high demand, demand for electronic products is falling. That has caused a readjustment of the supply chain for inventory and shipping orders. As a result, business sentiment in the manufacturing sector in May was 92.58 points, down 2.21 points from last month.
But Taiwan’s service sector has performed better than expected. Experts from the institute say it saw a slight upturn in May.
The institute expects local businesses to recover from the five-month slump once Taiwan's COVID pandemic subsides and the government relaxes border controls.