Taiwan’s export orders expanded 13.5 percent to US$34.46 billion last month from a year ago, thanks to strong international demand for Taiwanese chemicals, machinery, rubber and plastics from China, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday.
On a monthly basis, the results meant a decline of 5.8 percent from a record high of US$36.6 billion in December.
Export orders are an indication of Taiwan’s product and component shipments to overseas markets over the ensuing one to three months.
Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜), director of the ministry’s statistics department, told a press briefing that despite being a traditionally slow month, last month’s orders were the highest of all Januaries on record.
Orders last month were contributed mainly by China, Taiwan’s largest export market, which placed strong orders for Taiwanese products, Tsai said.
Chinese orders for Taiwanese chemicals, rubber and plastics, as well as machinery set all-time highs, she said.
This was because China is -adopting factory automation to counter rising labor costs and because of the lower tariffs under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), she added.
Last month’s orders were behind a consensus of 17.95 percent and were roughly in line with Standard Chartered PLC’s forecast of 12.6 percent, economist Tony Phoo (符銘財) said in a note yesterday.
He cautioned that there were concerns for the near-term outlook for Taiwanese exports over the next few months, as its reliance on the domestic market to keep the economy on the recovery path grows.
Export orders for this month should be lower because of fewer working days during the Lunar New Year holidays as well as lower PC shipments, hurt by the recall of Intel Corp’s flawed new chips, Tsai said.
“The downside will be minimal as the overall first-quarter outlook is positive amid the global economic recovery,” she said.
According to the ministry, China placed US$9.21 billion in orders from Taiwan last month, marking 7.22 percent year-on-year growth.
The US ordered 18 percent more from Taiwan last month, US$7.63 billion, while Europe ordered 16.2 percent more, US$6 billion.
In terms of product breakdown, international orders for Taiwanese machinery climbed 58.5 percent to US$1.71 billion last month, while orders for chemicals advanced 37.6 percent to US$2.09 billion.
Those for rubber and plastics rose 22 percent to US$2.09 billion, the ministry said.
Flagship products, electronic components — which consist of semiconductors and memory chips — rose 9.9 percent to US$8.15 billion last month.
Orders for information and communications products — comprising handsets and notebooks — advanced 6.8 percent from a year earlier to US$8.08 billion last month.
Global orders for precision machinery — mainly LCD panels — rose 6.4 percent to US$2.91 billion, the ministry said.
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