The ratio of electronic exports to the nation's total exports surged to 23.3 percent last year from a 1995 level of 14.6 percent, while that of exports of information and communications manufacturers dropped to 7.4 percent from 13.2 percent in 2000, according to the latest official statistics released yesterday.
A report compiled by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) shows that industrial exports took the lion's share of exports last year, with a ratio of 98.6 percent.
The report about changes in Taiwan's trade structure in the past 10 years indicates that the drop in exports by the information and communications sector resulted from increasing relocation of the industry overseas.
In terms of imports, agricultural and industrial raw materials rose in both 2003 and last year, with increases of over 7 percent recorded in each of the two years.
In the capital equipment sector, the ratio of imports grew slightly to 21.4 percent last year from 20.5 percent the previous year, according to the report.
In its analysis of overseas markets, the DGBAS said China and Hong Kong surpassed the US to become Taiwan's largest market, accounting for 36.7 percent of the country's exports last year, an increase of 13 percentage points from the 1995 level.
The share of exports to the US market last year dropped to 16.2 percent, while exports to Japan fell to 7.6 percent.
In terms of import sources, Japan was Taiwan's biggest source of imports last year, accounting for 25 percent of the total, followed by the US with 12.9 percent, the DGBAS report shows.
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