Taiwan's industrial production has climbed for a sixth consecutive month, as new orders for computers, mobile phones and television screens are on the rise.

Output advanced 35.17 percent in February from a year earlier, after increasing a revised 70.08 percent in January, the "Ministry of Economic Affairs" said in Taipei Tuesday. The median of 10 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey anticipated a 37.75 percent gain.

Taiwan's export orders, an indication of shipments over the next one to three months, advanced for a fifth time in February, as the economy recovers from its deepest recession on record. Companies including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and AU Optronics Corp plan to hire staff this year to meet rising international demand.

"The underlying trend is Asia's biggest post-crash bounce from one of Asia's worst crashes," Tim Condon, chief Asia economist at ING Groep NV in Singapore, said prior to the release. "What started as an export-led recovery in the manufacturing sector has spread through employment gains to the rest of the economy."

Production by manufacturers rose 36.42 percent from a year earlier, after climbing a revised 77.34 percent in January, Tuesday's report showed. Output in the mining and quarrying industries dropped 8.15 percent, and increased 44.68 percent in the construction sector.

Taiwan's gross domestic product increased 9.2 percent in the three months through December.That followed contractions recorded consecutively in five previous quarters. The Taipei-based Polaris Research Institute last week raised its forecast for economic growth to 4.65 percent in 2010 from 4.57 percent.

Taiwan Semiconductor, the island's biggest company by market value whose customers include Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc, said March 11 it plans to hire 2,400 full-time employees to replace contract workers this year, in addition to 3,000 engineers.

AU Optronics, Taiwan's second-largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, said last week it will build two plants in central Taiwan to make panels for televisions after announcing plans to hire 2,500 new employees this year.

Tuesday's figures were released after the close of trading on the stock exchange. The Taiex index fell 0.3 percent to 7,811.87. The Taiwan dollar advanced 0.2 percent to NT$31.824 versus the US dollar at 2:54 pm local time, according to Taipei Forex Inc.

China Daily/Bloomberg News

(HK Edition 03/24/2010 page4)