Print

Mail

wiki links

January export orders up nearly 15% on year earlier

Taiwan's export orders in January rose 14.99 percent from a year earlier to US$13.02 billion, official data showed yesterday.

The rise compared with a 14.04 percent increase seen in December when shipments came to US$13.04 billion, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.

Export orders are indicative of actual shipments in one to three months time.

The ministry expects export orders in the first quarter to post double digit growth from the previous year as manufacturing output rises 6 percent, the ministry's Statistics Department chief Chang Yaw-tzong (張耀聰) said.

"The January export orders came in slightly higher than previous projections but February may not be as good as January," Chang said.

Strong demand for electronics will power export order growth.

Factory production rose 8.5 percent last month after a revised 11.2 percent gain the previous month, the ministry said.

The ministry expects export orders and factory production grow over five percent this year, Chang said. The forecast was based on an assumption that any US-led war against Iraq would only last for less than two months.

"Exports, ultimately, look to overseas demand," said Cindy Lin, an economist and fund manager at Capital Investment Trust Corp (群益投信). "Economic growth in the US looks flat, and lagging demand from Europe and Japan is further damped by the prospect of war, causing corporations to curb investment."

January export orders from the US amounted to US$3.70 billion, up 8.28 percent from a year earlier. This included rises of US$160 million in US orders for information technology and communications products and US$100 million for textiles.

Orders from Hong Kong in January rose 19.85 percent to US$2.73 billion and Japanese orders increased 10.87 percent to US$1.28 billion.

Orders from Europe amounted to US$2.05 billion, up 13.90 percent.
This story has been viewed 1897 times.