Taiwan's Machine-tool Sector Has Busy Q2

Taipei, March 28, 2012 (CENS)--Thanks to the easing European debt crisis and the recovery of U.S. economy, Taiwan's major manufacturers of machine tools have production lines almost fully booked for the second quarter of this year, and have begun negotiating orders for shipments in the third quarter.

Despite FTA-driven threats from South Korea, Taiwan's machine-tool manufacturers currently are still busy with influx of orders. For instance, Tongtai and Awea still have orders of NT$2 billion and NT$1.6 billion backlogged, respectively. Goodway, Victor Taichung and Fu Chun Shin each has NT$1 billion-plus in backlogged orders.

Tongtai said it received orders of NT$400 million in February and has already received orders of NT$400 million so far in March. Thanks to the continued influx of orders from the 3C and automobile sectors, the company is expected to acquire orders of between TN$450 million and NT$500 million in March, with some orders not to be filled until July and August.

Taiwan Takisawa has NT$800 million in backlogged orders. The company recently inaugurated a new plant in Taoyuan County, northern Taiwan which focuses on the production of large-sized vertical CNC lathes, horizontal CNC lathes, PCB drilling machines and lathe/mill compound machines for the industries of large-sized oil pipes, windpower generators, aerospace and railway transport. The company aims for sales of machine tools to grow 5% year-on-year this year from last year's 2,700 sets.