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Trade surplus falls 48% from last year

Taiwan's trade surplus totaled US$3.47 billion for the first 10 months of this year, down by 48.1 percent over the level for the same period a year earlier, according to statistics released on Saturday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Taiwan's largest trade surpluses were with China (including Hong Kong) and the US, at US$40.42 billion and US$5.79 billion, respectively, for the January to October period, the statistics show.

In terms of region, Taiwan's largest growth in exports year on year was to the six-member Association of ASEAN -- Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam -- at 12.9 percent, for the same 10-month period, while its largest growth in imports was from China and Hong Kong, at 18.4 percent, according to the statistics.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's trade deficits with Japan and South Korea for the 10-month period hit US$26.93 billion and US$6.273 billion, respectively, up by 9.3 percent and 26.7 percent year on year.

In terms of products, imports of crude oil saw the largest annual increase of 45.4 percent, while exports of steel products registered the greatest growth of 15.2 percent.

Despite the steady decline in trade surpluses since the beginning of this year, economists said that this phenomenon does not necessarily mean a deterioration in Taiwan's business conditions.
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