0 10 20 30 40 50
1966 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996
Year
%
North Central South East
Figure 7.2d Type IV: Electric and Electronic Industries
0 20 40 60 80
1966 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996
Year
%
North Central South East
3. Regional Variation in the Development of Industrial Zones
Regional variations can also be seen in the development of industrial zones.
The industrial zones were established to provide industrial land for investors and to use the land efficiently. In Taiwan, there are four categories of industrial zones. The first category is established in the urban planning areas according to the Urban Planning Act. The second category is established at the non-urban, fourth-grade land classified for construction use according to the Regulation of Non-urban Land Use.
The third category is established according to the Regulation for Promoting Investment issued in 1960 and furthermore according to the Regulation for Upgrading the Industry issued in 1991; this category is also known as a designated (pien-ting 編
定) industrial zone. These three categories of industrial zones are distributed all over cities and counties. The fourth category is established particularly for processing industry especially for export near Kaohsiung and Taichung harbors.10
Taiwan’s first designated industrial zone was developed at Liutu 六堵 in Keelung City. It took five years from 1960 to 1965 to complete the development of this industrial zone. By 1997, there were 95 designated industrial zones that had been developed with 13,421 hectares of land in Taiwan. In 1998, seven of the 95 designated industrial zones were dissolved and re-registered under the category of urban industrial zone. Table 8 shows land areas used for the first three categories of industrial zones in 1998.
Table 8 shows that the total land area of industrial zones is 52,348 hectares, of which the North region shares 35 percent, the Central region 33 percent, the South region 29.5 percent, and the East region 2.5 percent. The urban industrial zones have 23,323 hectares and share 44.6 percent of the total area; the non-urban industrial zones have 17,602 hectares and share 33.6 percent; and the designated industrial zones have 11,422 hectares and share 21.8 percent. Furthermore, of the urban industrial zones, the North region shares 36 percent, the Central region 26 percent, the South region 35 percent and the East region 3 percent. Of the industrial zones located at non-urban, fourth-grade construction land, 46 percent are in the Central region, 37 percent in the North region, 15 percent in the South region and 2 percent in the East region. Of the designated industrial zones, 40 percent are in the South region, 31 percent in the North region, 26 percent in the Central region and 2 percent in the East region.
Looking into the details of individual cities and counties, we see that the urban industrial zones are mostly located in five counties in the order of magnitude as follows: Taichung (13.3 %), Taoyuan (12.1 %), Taipei (11.8 %), Tainan (10.4 %) and Kaohsiung (10.2 %). The non-urban industrial zones are mostly located in three counties: Changhua (24.1 %), Taoyuan (19.7 %), and Yunlin (10.7 %). The designated industrial zones are mostly located in Taoyuan County (19.4 %), Kaoshiung City (10.3 %) and Kaohsiung County (9.2 %). In short, industrial zones are concentrated in the North region in Taipei and Taoyuan Counties, in the Central region in Taichung and Changhua Counties and in the South region in Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County.
10 Ch’en Sheng-ch’ang 陳慎昌, “Kung-yeh-ch’u te k’ai-fa yu kung-yeh fa-chan 工業區的開發與工業 發展 (The development of industrial zones and the industrial development)”, T’u-ti kai-ke 土地改 革 (Land Reform Monthly), 23.5-6 (1973): 28-31. Kung-yeh-ch’u k’asi-fa kuan-li nien-pao, pa-shih-pa nien-tu 工業區開發管理年報，八十八年度 (The annual report of the industrial zone’s management, 1999), Ch. 5.
Table 8: Land Area of Industrial Zones (area in hectare) Source: 1.The data of urban industrial zones from the Ministry of Interior.
2.The data of designated industrial zones from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
3.The data of the fourth-grade construction land from investigation of 1997.
The Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs has carried out an investigation over 79 designated industrial zones and thus some details are now available. In terms of the number of factories, the top five industrial zones are Wuku 五股 (1,153) in the North, Taichung 台中 (846) in the Central, Tafa 大發 (549) and Anping 安平 (531) in the South, and Nankang 南崗 (463) in the Central. These five industrial zones are all characterized as a synthetic zone.
The distribution of major industries at designated industrial zones is also available to some extent. Table 9 lists available statistics in 1999 and Table 10
summarizes the shares of the top five industries in each region.
Table 9: Regional Shares of Firms located at the Designated Industrial Zones in Taiwan in 1998
Source: The Annual Report of Development and Management of Industrial Zones, 1999.
Table 10: The Shares of the Top Five Industries
Rank Total North Central South East
Indications: EL: electronic, FM: fabricated metal, MA: machinery, PL: plastic, BM: basic metal, TX:
textile, TR: transport equipment.
Source: Table 9.
On the whole, the top five industries are electronic, fabricated metal, machinery, plastic, and basic metal and they together share 51.45 percent of the total 10,952 factories. Among the top five industries, electronic, fabricated metal, machinery and plastic industries commonly appear in the North, Central and South regions.
However, the North has textile ranked fourth, the Central has transport equipment ranked fifth, and the South has transport equipment ranked third.
Regional concentration and variation can also be seen. In the North region, textile manufacturing accounts for 55 percent of the total 571 factories, while electronic manufacturing is 50 percent of the total 1,520 factories. It seems that the Central region does not predominate in any branch of manufacturing. However, its machinery manufacturing accounts for 41 percent of the total 1,160 factories, its fabricated metal manufacturing shares 37 percent of the total 1,287, and its plastic manufacturing makes up 37 percent of the total 844 factories. In the South region, basic metal manufacturing accounts for 57 percent of the total 824 factories and the transport equipment manufacturing shares 42 percent of the total 747 factories.
Finally, it is notable that in the East region, nearly half (49.82%) of the 273 factories engage in non-metallic mineral products based on local natural resources, such as marble and granite quarries. In short, concentration and polarization phenomena appear in textile, electronic, and non-metallic manufacturing industries due to development policy, location, and special resources.
Concluding remarks
This paper has presented numerical facts related to regional variation of Taiwan’s industrial development and these make up only a preliminary study of the topic. Briefly speaking, the situation in 1996 showed that the North region had 43.5 percent of Taiwan’s manufacturing establishment units, the Central region had 35.3 percent, the South region had 20.4 percent, and the East region had 0.8 percent.
Moreover, the tendency is that the shares of the North and the Central regions are increasing, while those of the South and the East are decreasing. Details related to types of manufacturing industries and the industrial zones also reveal regional variation and concentration. It is hard to say, however, that the picture now we have for regional variation in Taiwan’s industrial development is entirely an outcome of rational planning. Further studies are required to investigate into crucial factors and process of changes leading to this result.
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