Taiwan's decreased market share in China was the major reason behind a sharp 69.5 percent year-on-year drop in its trade surplus in the first nine months of this year, Board of Foreign Trade (BOFT) officials said on Saturday.
In the January to September period, the amount of Taiwan's foreign trade accumulated to US$272.36 billion, registering a growth of 8.9 percent over the same period of last year, according to Customs statistics.
The tallies show that exports reached US$137.15 billion in the nine-month period, a growth of 6.9 percent over the previous year, while imports recorded a growth of 10.9 percent to US$135.21 billion.
The trade surplus for 2005 has been estimated to reach a level between US$3 billion and US$2.6 billion -- a 23-year low, Hsu Kuo-chung (
Explaining the surplus decrease, BOFT officials cited statistics released by China's customs authorities as saying that China's general imports from January to August recorded a growth of 15.13 percent over the previous year.
In terms of Taiwan's exports to China, a 10.11 percent increase was registered in the first eight months of this year, smaller than those of South Korea, Singapore, Russia, Australia and Thailand.
Taiwan's market share in China also dropped to 11.04 percent in the eight-month period from the level of 11.54 percent in the same period last year.
Taiwan lagged behind Japan and South Korea as the third-largest source of imports for China, the officials said.
With the signs showing that Taiwan's export dependence on the China market is falling, the BOFT will boost its efforts to assist Taiwan exporters to try opening other markets, they said.
According to Taiwan' own customs statistics, the nation's exports to Hong Kong and China totalled US$51.36 billion in the first nine months of this year. The number accounted for 37.4 percent of the country's total exports, representing a growth of 8.4 percent, while the growth in total exports was 6.9 percent.
A separate report released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) on Saturday said that the market share of Taiwanese products in the US decreased to 2.13 percent in the first seven months of the year from the level of 2.36 percent last year and the 2.51 percent of 2003.
The DGBAS report also showed that Taiwan's market share in Japan dropped, with that of the first eight months of this year shrinking to 3.58 percent from 3.66 percent last year and 3.72 percent in 2003.
Canada, China and Mexico were the three largest exporters to the US in the first seven months of this year, with the US market share of Canada recorded at 17.7 percent, that of China at 14.04 percent and that of Mexico at 10.24 percent, DGBAS officials said.
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