Taipei, Jan. 25, 2010 (CENS)--Thanks to the influx of orders from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, Taiwan`s leading manufacturers of machine tools are seeing recovery, with some advocating raising prices on the most wanted items to offset rising raw material prices.

Despite the influx of orders, domestic machine-tool firms still have idle production lines, with some conceding to meager margins amid continuing throat-cut competition. Dah Lih Machinery Industry Co. recently announced it would soon raise quotations for products shipped to Thailand.

Dah Lih`s general manager D.L. Chuang said the overall economic development in Thailand is better than expected, with shipments to Thailand over the past few months rising as fast as the peak year of 2008, despite a 50% year-on-year decline in 2009 sales due to the global crash.

The quotations for cast iron, key components and CNC controllers have been rising. And domestic manufacturers will see profit margin drop if they continue to try to undersell. So some makers have asked the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry to convene a self-disciplinary meeting to keep underselling in check.

(by Ben Shen)