Export orders climb to a new record

Taiwanese orders last year rose to a record US$345.81 billion, amounting to 15.54 percent growth year-on-year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

But growth would slow in the first half of the year amid a global economic slowdown, a ministry official said.

"The growth in last year's export orders can be attributed to orders from Asia, which increased by 18.71 percent to reach US$178.57 billion," Huang Ji-shih (黃吉實), director of the ministry's statistics department, told a press briefing.

Orders Hong Kong and China, amounting to US$91.42 billion last year, surpassed those from the US at US$84.53 billion, for the first time, which Huang said was a result of the subprime mortgage crisis in the second half of last year.

Huang Taiwan may see a slight decline in export orders this month after last month's rose 17.56 percent year-on-year to US$31.02 billion. Orders may also slow in the first half of the year as external demand is expected to cool, he added.

Electronics up the most of the gain in orders last month, adding US$1.12 billion (18.67 percent), followed by an increase of US$940 million (53.92 percent) in precision equipment and of US$670 million (60.78 percent) in chemicals, the tallies showed.

The industrial production index last month saw 10.7 percent growth year-on-year. The index was 4.11 percent lower than the previous month, the ministry said.