Taiwan's economic authority said Tuesday that the island's manufacturing output dropped 10.84 percent to 12.86 trillion new Taiwan dollars (387 billion U.S. dollars), the lowest since 2009.
The authority attributed the plunge to a weak global economy last year, especially the latter half, which witnessed dropping international oil and steel prices.
In the fourth quarter, manufacturing production dropped 14.9 percent year on year to 3.09 trillion new Taiwan dollars, the lowest level since the last quarter of 2009.
The output of electronic products dropped 11.84 percent, oil and coal products were down by 31.18 percent and metal products 34.61 percent.
The authority forecast that the manufacturing output is not likely to return to growth in the first quarter of this year due to high base figures a year ago.
The Industrial Technology Research Institute in Taiwan said last month the manufacturing sector might go back to growth after the second quarter and would grow by 0.96 percent this year.
