Taiwan’s exports rose 21.8 percent from a year earlier to US$24.37 billion last month on demand from China, the US and Europe ahead of Christmas and the Lunar New Year, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
It was the third-highest value ever, with exports to Europe increasing 27.8 percent on a yearly basis to a new record of US$2.95 billion despite lingering debt problems there, the report said.
For the first 11 months, exports increased 36.6 percent to US$250.81 billion and are set to exceed the US$272.7 billion level for the whole of this year that the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) forecast last month, Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), head of the ministry’s statistics department, said at a news conference.
PHOTO: AFP
“Exports this quarter will outperform the third quarter as demand for consumer electronics remains strong amid the region’s fast-growing economies,” Lin said.
Shipments of electronics gained 16.4 percent yearly to US$6.75 billion last month, while those of base metals and related products increased 25.9 percent to NT$2.27 billion, the report showed.
Imports jumped 33.8 percent year-on-year to US$23.96 billion last month with capital goods contributing US$4.4 billion, suggesting active expansions on the part of the private sector, Lin said.
The latest trade figures translated into a trade surplus of US$410 million, the lowest since the global financial crisis in 2008, due to the import of three aircraft, Lin said, dismissing links with foreign exchange rates.
The New Taiwan dollar weakened NT$0.22 against the US currency last month from October, she said.
Shipments to China including Hong Kong picked up 18.2 percent yearly to US$9.83 billion last month, while exports to the US increased 32.1 percent to US$2.96 billion, the report said.
Exports to Southeast Asian countries gained 15.8 percent to US$3.53 billion last month, while those to Japan grew 12.3 percent to US$1.57 billion, the report said.
The rosy trade data is likely to encourage the central bank to hike interest rates in its quarterly board meeting later this month to cushion inflationary pressure, said Tony Phoo (符銘財), an economist at Standard Chartered Bank Taiwan Ltd (渣打銀行).
“The central bank will likely raise the interest rate by another 12.5 basis points as Taiwan’s real interest rate was in negative territory last month,” Phoo said.
The nation’s consumer price index rose 1.53 percent last month from a year earlier, DGBAS reported on Monday, while the one-year time deposit rate is currently 1.13 percent at Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行).
Donna Kwok (郭浩莊), an economist on Greater China at HSBC, however, said the central bank is likely to halt the interest normalization cycle this month with the NT dollar still under appreciation pressure.
“We expect the central bank to keep its policy rate frozen,” Kwok said in a note. “With the formation of new headwinds in Europe and the negative turn in the US labor market, the outlook for Taiwanese exports is gloomier than in September.”
The seizure of one of the largest known mercury shipments in history, moving from mines in Mexico to illegal Amazon gold mining zones, exposes the wide use of the toxic metal in the rainforest, according to authorities. Peru’s customs agency, SUNAT, found 4 tonnes of illegal mercury in Lima’s port district of Callao, according to a report by the non-profit Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA). “This SUNAT intervention has prevented this chemical from having a serious impact on people’s health and the environment, as can be seen in several areas of the country devastated by the illegal use of mercury and illicit activities,”
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
DIVERSIFYING: Taiwanese investors are reassessing their preference for US dollar assets and moving toward Europe amid a global shift away from the greenback Taiwanese investors are reassessing their long-held preference for US-dollar assets, shifting their bets to Europe in the latest move by global investors away from the greenback. Taiwanese funds holding European assets have seen an influx of investments recently, pushing their combined value to NT$13.7 billion (US$461 million) as of the end of last month, the highest since 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Over the first half of this year, Taiwanese investors have also poured NT$14.1 billion into Europe-focused funds based overseas, bringing total assets up to NT$134.8 billion, according to data from the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association (SITCA),
Taiwan’s property transactions in the first half of this year fell 26.4 percent year-on-year to about 130,000 units, as credit controls and mortgage restrictions dampened demand, data from the Ministry of the Interior showed yesterday. Keelung saw the steepest decline, with transactions plummeting 45.6 percent to just 2,041 units — the lowest since the ministry began its survey in 2006. In contrast, Miaoli County was the only region to experience year-on-year growth, with transactions rising 2.4 percent to 3,229 units. Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) attributed the increase in deals in Miaoli, particularly Jhunan (竹南) and Toufen (頭份) townships, to spillover demand