Outline       

     This chapter is concerned with statistical data on industries and energy. The industrial production, shipment and inventory survey is conducted once a month, and its scope covers the five industrial sectors in Taiwan area, i.e. mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity & gas supply, water supply and building construction industries. Objects of the survey are enterprises selected from the Factory Registration Update Survey. Different sampling sizes are applied to different industries. Mining and quarrying, water supply, building construction and public enterprises sectors are all subject to survey. Other sectors are partly selected as samples for survey by way of “cut-off sampling”. Samples covered by the survey totaled 8,000 enterprises, accounting for 10.6% of the population (or 15.5% of the population excluding firms having employees less than 5 people). Different objects are subject to different survey methods. The data source of mining and quarrying major division is from the Bureau of Mines, Ministry of Economic Affairs. The building construction major division uses the data of “total floor area of occupancy permit” published by Construction and Planning Agency Ministry of the Interior. Public and private enterprises as well as business operators of electricity & gas supply and water supply are required to fill out the survey questionnaires by themselves. The Department of Statistics, Ministry of Economic Affairs is also designated to communicate with surveyed facotories and ensure their reporting in time. In addition, the auxiliary methods are Internet submitting and double-checking over the completed forms by on-the-spot specialists. This survey has secured a response rate over 95%. The industrial production index is calculated by Laspeyres formula and from the production weighted by unit net value of selected products; the net values are obtained from the Factory Registration Update Survey conducted in 2005.
     On the front of energy statistics, the data has been compiled according to the new format Energy Balances. The heating value of electricity is based on the average efficiency of thermal power. Some international organizations, however, have set 860 Kcal/KWh as the heating value of electricity consumption. A companion volume, the Energy Balances in Taiwan, Republic of China, presents energy data in comprehensive balances on the same heating value basis for the purpose of international comparison.