TAIPEI: Taiwan's industrial production has climbed for a fourth consecutive month, boosted by rising orders for electronics components, computers and mobile phones.

Output gained 47.3 percent in December from a year earlier, after rising a revised 31.4 percent in November, the "Ministry of Economic Affairs" said in Taipei yesterday. The median of nine estimates in a Bloomberg survey was for a 40.9 percent increase.

The global economic recovery has prompted companies in Taiwan, where exports account for more than half of gross domestic product, to boost output and add jobs. Prime View International Co, the screen supplier to Sony Corp's Reader and Amazon.com's Kindle e-book readers, plans to triple its capacity this year on rising orders, Chairman Scott Liu said in an interview last week.

"Rising industrial output is mainly fueled by the recovery in the electronics sector," said Wai Ho Leong, an economist at Barclays Plc in Singapore, ahead of the report. "Companies are benefiting from stronger overseas demand," he added.

Production at electronics manufacturers rose 50.2 percent from a year earlier, after climbing 34.4 percent in November. Output in the mining and quarrying industries advanced 13.1 percent. Construction expanded 11.4 percent.

China Daily/Bloomberg News

(HK Edition 01/26/2010 page2)