The Chinese Nationalists built up the economy with land reform and educational investment and set about industrializing Taiwan. Growth has been rapid, despite a slowdown in the early 1990s. Service industries such as finance are increasingly important. Twenty-five percent of Taiwan's land is arable. Crops are rice, wheat, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, sugarcane, betel nut, peanuts, fruit, tea and tobacco.
Livestock includes pigs, chickens, ducks and dairy cattle.
Taiwan has small resources of petroleum, coal and natural gas which can meet around five percent of its energy needs. Nuclear and hydroelectric power contribute, but much oil and coal has to be imported. Manufacturing is important to the economy. The main heavy industries are petrochemicals, plastics and metals. Taiwan is a leading supplier of electronic goods especially hardware and software for the computer industry and also a major world producer of synthetic fibres.