Annual production of crude oil is about 88,000 tons and that of natural gas about 1,200,000 cubic yards. Salt production is located mainly on the southwestern coast. In addition there are four private commercial banks. Ten enterprises, in the fields of sugar, electricity, petroleum and natural gas, fertilizers, caustic soda, aluminum, copper, shipbuilding, and railways, are government monopolies. In order to promote economic development, the local government controls and helps private enterprises to adopt new techniques and seek foreign investment.
Most manufacturing industries receive technical cooperation from foreign companies.
Because Taiwan is an island and thus limited in resources and the market, it must exchange goods with other parts of the world and tap overseas markets in order to support mass production and cut production costs. External transport links are by air and sea. Railways and highways for internal transportation are well developed. The well-built road networks have a total length of about 10,000 miles. The principal roads consist of a highway running around the island and three east-west highways crossing the island in the northern, middle, and the southern regions of Taiwan.