Export orders outperform

The nation's export orders increased 16.89 percent year-on-year to NT$951.37 billion (US$30.31 billion) last month, buoyed by demand from China and Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

Export orders from China and Hong Kong last month increased by 21.7 percent year-on-year to US$1.44 billion, while orders from Japan rose 22.25 percent year-on-year to US$520 million, the ministry's latest report showed.

"The largest contribution to the year-on-year growth last month came from orders for electronics products, which rose 16.27 percent last month, an increase of US$980 million from the same period a year ago," said Huang Ji-shih (黃吉實), director of the ministry's department of statistics.

Export orders totaled US$30.31 billion last month, exceeding the ministry's estimate of US$30 billion, Huang said.

Cheng Cheng-mount (鄭貞茂), chief economist and vice president of Citibank Taiwan Ltd, said exports were robust.

"Export orders were better than expected last month, mainly as a result of increased orders from Asia and the information technology industry's strong growth," Cheng said by phone yesterday.

Citi had forecast that export orders would grow 15.7 percent year-on-year.

Despite last month's strong performance, Huang said export orders were expected to decline by between US$25 billion and US$26 billion this month, as a result of fewer working days and companies pre-ordering ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.

Meanwhile, the industrial production index increased 12.29 percent year-on-year last month, with the construction industry seeing a noticeable increase of 21.23 percent as a result of triple-digit growth in Kaohsiung County, Huang said.

During the same period, manufacturing industry grew 12.62 percent year-on-year as a result of rising demand for consumer electronics and ramped up production ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.

"The manufacturing industry is likely to see year-on-year growth this month, as there are more working days compared to a year ago," Huang said.