Taiwan's foreign trade, the economy's driving force, roared back to its old "Asian dragon" self in 1999 after a dismal 1998, when Asia's recession savaged the island's exports and imports.
Data released yesterday showed December exports surged 22.1 percent year-on-year to US$11.043 billion, bringing the 1999 total to US$121.637 billion, up 10 percent from 1998 -- a rise nearly triple what economists dared forecast when 1999 began.
Similarly, the Ministry of Finance (
Officials said Taiwan had turned the corner on Asia's crisis, helped by recovering Asian demand and steaming Western demand for its technology exports -- and had emerged relatively unscathed by the 921 earthquake.
Ministry chief statistician Hsu Kuo-chung said the trade picture for this year looked good, predicting exports and imports both would rise, though the official declined to give specific forecasts.
"Taiwan's trade, both imports and exports, will be better this year than last, chiefly due to recovery in the global economy," Hsu told reporters after releasing the 1999 data.
According to the data, exports of heavy chemical and industry products rose by 15.3 percent, the highest rise of all export categories, and reached US$10.88 billion. The sector accounted for 67.4 percent of the island's total 1999 exports.
Finance ministry officials said the increase was due to Taiwan's increased exports of electronic, information, communication and optical products and machinery.
Meanwhile, the largest increase in imports in 1999 was for capital machinery (instruments) that manufacture export products.
"The rapid growth of the electronics industry in Taiwan has boosted demand for imports of those instruments required to manufacture such [electronic] products," said Cheng Cheng-mount ( 鄭貞茂 ), assistant research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院).
Imports of capital machinery increased by 20.3 percent compared to last year, and amounted to US$4.94 billion.
For 1999, the US topped Taiwan's export destinations, as the world's largest economy bought 24.4 percent of the nations's total exports. Next came Hong Kong (including China), followed by Europe, with 21.4 percent and 16.7 percent, respectively.
Japan remained the largest source of Taiwan's imports, with a 27.6 percent share. The US and Europe were the next largest sources, with 17.8 and 15.9 percent, respectively, according to the statistics.
As for trade categories, industrial products accounted for 98.4 percent of Taiwan's exports in 1999, while agricultural and industrial raw materials accounted for 67.4 percent of total imports.
Though Taiwan avoided the recession that hit many neighbors for several quarters beginning in mid-1997, the nation's big 1998 trade declines -- 9.4 percent in exports, 8.5 percent in imports -- slowed 1998 economic growth to just 4.7 percent from 6.8 percent in 1997.
In January 1999, cautious state forecasters expected exports to rise just 3.5 percent in 1999 and imports 2.6 percent.
Despite the big rebound, Taiwan's 1999 trade still lagged the torrid pace of 1997, when Asia's financial crisis had yet to hit hard. Exports in 1997 totalled US$122.074 billion and imports US$114.434 billion, both records.
The 1999 surplus of US$10.939 billion, while not a record, outpaced both previous years, beating 1998's US$5.9 billion trade gap and 1997's US$7.6 billion.
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