The nation’s exports grew at a lower-than-expected pace from a year earlier last month amid lower mineral product exports resulting from the shutdown of the Formosa Plastics Group’s (FPG, 台塑集團) naphtha cracker in Mailiao (麥寮), Yunlin County, and slowing demand in the US for information and communication technology (ICT) products made by local companies, the Ministry of -Finance said yesterday.
Outbound shipments grew 7.2 percent year-on-year to US$25.79 billion last month, the lowest annual growth rate since October 2009. On a monthly basis, exports dropped 8.3 percent, the biggest monthly drop since January 2009, the ministry said in a report.
“The declining exports of minerals and decreasing demand for ICT products dragged down last month’s outbound shipments,” Department of Statistics director Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) told a media briefing.
Exports of mineral products dropped 53.9 percent year-on-year and 30.7 percent month-on-month, as the shutdown of FPG’s naphtha cracker hurt outbound shipments of oil products, Lin said.
In addition, outbound shipments of ICT products totaled US$1.57 billion, up 39 percent from a year ago, but down 23.1 percent from a month earlier, on slowing demand for smartphones and tablet PCs made by Taiwanese firms, especially in the US, Lin added.
Looking ahead, Lin said exports may start rebounding to a double-digit annual growth from this month, given that the fourth quarter is usually a hot season for outbound shipments.
However, Citigroup chief economist Cheng Cheng-mount (鄭貞茂) said the weaker-than-expected exports last month may lead to a contraction in third-quarter exports after exports have grown for nine consecutive quarters.
“We think the supply shock due to a major factory shutdown will likely dissipate in the fourth -quarter, but weakening tech demand will likely persist,” Cheng said in a research report yesterday.
Although exports in the fourth quarter may be slightly better than in the third quarter, Cheng expects the downtrend in exports to remain until next year.
By destination, exports to Europe retained their month-on-month growth last month, while exports to China and Hong Kong, the US, Japan and ASEAN countries fell from the previous month.
Exports to China and Hong Kong — the nation’s largest exports destinations — were the sixth--largest in history at US$10.61 billion last month, a 5.27 decrease month-on-month and 8.4 percent increase year-on-year, the ministry said.
Yesterday’s report also showed imports grew 4.1 percent from a year ago to US$23.16 billion last month, down 6.5 percent from a month earlier.
That has helped bring the trade surplus to US$2.63 billion, up 15.6 percent from last year, ministry statistics showed.
In the first eight months, exports rose 15.6 percent to US$208.04 billion, with imports surging 17.6 percent to US$192 billion, both marking the strongest level in history, data showed.
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