Taiwan's PMI (Purchasing Manager's Index) surged 1.6 points to arrive at 53.6 in December 2013, registering a new high in the past five months and the tenth consecutive month of expansion, according to CIER's (Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research) report. The continuous expansion is mainly bolstered by new orders and production, which improved 4.3 and 4.4 points, respectively. Of the six manufacturing industry categories, five were seeing growth in December: Chemical, Biological & Medical (60.0%); Transportation Equipment (54.7%); Electronic & Optical (53.0%); Electrical & Machinery Equipment (52.7%) and Basic Raw Materials (52.6%). CIER noted that Taiwan's economy is recovering for sure should the PMI can continue to grow for three to four months.