The nation’s exports fell 4.5 percent year-on-year during the first two months of this year, dropping to US$44.49 billion, owing to the high basis for comparison and continued global economic uncertainties, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
While it marks the first annual contraction since 2009, it was also the second-highest level in history, the ministry said.
However, outbound shipments rose last month to US$23.41 billion, up 10.3 percent from the previous year and 11 percent from the previous month, since the Lunar New Year holiday was in February last year, the ministry said. This also dragged down the comparison basis for last month, it added.
“Exports in the first two months were lower than expected because of the slowing global economy,” Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), director of the ministry’s statistics department, told reporters.
However, Lin said she expects exports to begin rebounding in the second quarter following the launch of new electronic products by local technology companies and the improving external economic environment, led by an easing of the eurozone debt crisis and a strengthening US economy.
“This month’s export numbers will definitely be better than those for last month [based on current data],” Lin said.
Exports of information and communication technology products dropped 20.8 percent from a year ago to US$2.12 billion in the first two months, marking the steepest decline among the nation’s 10 major export sectors. It was followed by the chemical product sector and electronics sector, the ministry said in a report.
Exports of chemical products fell 11 percent year-on-year to US$3.4 billion, while those of electronic products — the country’s largest export sector — slid 9 percent to US$11.89 billion.
The six main ASEAN members were the only region to post annual growth in exports in the first two months.
Outbound shipments to the region climbed 5.9 percent from a year ago to US$8.18 billion, the report said.
Exports to the six members accounted for 18.4 percent of total exports in the first two months, the highest level in history.
The nation’s imports, or inbound shipments, dropped 5.8 percent from a year earlier to US$41.24 billion in the first two months, the second-highest level ever, but also the first annual contraction since 2009, the ministry’s statistics showed.
The drop caused the trade surplus to soar to US$3.25 billion, up 16.3 percent year-on-year, compared with US$2.79 billion posted last year.
Imports of consumer goods hit a record-high level of US$3.93 billion in the first two months, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier, with mobile device imports jumping 80.1 percent to US$210 million, data showed.
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
CUSTOMERS’ BURDEN: TSMC already has operations in the US and is a foundry, so any tariff increase would mostly affect US customers, not the company, the minister said Taiwanese manufacturers are “not afraid” of US tariffs, but are concerned about being affected more heavily than regional economic competitors Japan and South Korea, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said. “Taiwan has many advantages that other countries do not have, the most notable of which is its semiconductor ecosystem,” Kuo said. The US “must rely on Taiwan” to boost its microchip manufacturing capacities, Kuo said in an interview ahead of his one-year anniversary in office tomorrow. Taiwan has submitted a position paper under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act to explain the “complementary relationship” between Taiwan and the US
RSS