The nation's export growth accelerated on increased electronics sales and demand from China and Southeast Asia.
Exports last month rose 10.5 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$21.4 billion, compared with an 8.2 percent rise to US$21.18 billion posted in July, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
``Given strength in China and Europe, it's going to be business as usual for Taiwanese exporters for the time being,'' Standard Chartered PLC's Taipei-based economist Tony Phoo (符銘財) said.
Imports last month fell 0.3 percent year-on-year to US$18.1 billion, compared with a 16.7 percent increase to a record high of US$20.73 billion posted in the preceding month, the ministry said.
The main reasons for the fall were a 25.1 percent decline in imports of crude oil and the year-earlier purchase by China Airlines Ltd (
``The decline in imports indicates that consumer spending doesn't have growth momentum,'' said Lucas Lee, a Taipei-based economist at Mega Securities Co (兆豐證券). ``This could affect the third-quarter's gross domestic product.''
Trade last month resulted in a surplus of US$3.3 billion, widening sharply from a surplus of US$450.6 million in July. That was the largest since December 2005, according to the ministry's data.
For the first eight months of the year, the trade surplus stood at US$14.29 billion, up 32.6 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Exports from January to last month rose 8 percent to US$156.52 billion, while imports rose 6 percent to US$142.23 billion.
Taiwan and other export-oriented Asian nations are relying on China's appetite for goods ranging from electronics to steel to sustain economic growth. European orders are also helping to offset slumping demand from the US, where a housing recession is denting confidence.
Exports to China and Hong Kong combined rose 14.8 percent last month, faster than July's 12.2 percent, while US-bound goods fell 11.5 percent last month, the biggest decline on record, following a 2 percent decline in the previous month, the ministry's statistics showed.
Exports bound for Europe climbed 8.5 percent after July's 19.8 percent growth and those to Southeast Asian countries climbed 28.4 percent after the previous month's 2 percent increase.
Taiwan's exports of electronics rose 7 percent, after gaining 2.7 percent in July, the ministry said. Shipments of electronics products typically pick up in the second half of each year as retailers stock up for Christmas holiday shopping.
Shipments of information and communications products decreased 14.6 percent last month, following the previous month's 3.1 percent drop.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day