Exports orders in the first four months of the year declined 1.6 percent year-on-year, amid a slow global economic recovery.
Orders in the January-to-April period fell to US$137.7 billion from US$139.9 billion during the same period last year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
That follows a 1.7 percent drop in orders in the first three months of the year.
Last month alone, export orders fell to a 13-month low of US$35.69 billion, down 1.1 percent year-on-year and 0.4 percent month-on-month, the ministry’s report showed.
JAPAN
“Export orders from the US and China grew on a monthly and annual basis, but those from Europe, the ASEAN and Japan shrank last month,” with orders from Japan suffering the biggest fall of 20 percent, Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), director of the ministry’s statistics department, told a press conference.
Lin said she remained cautious about the nation’s economic and trade performance, as global economic conditions remained lackluster.
SALES DRIVERS
“However, with more new mobile devices hitting the market and demand for consumer electronics heating up, we expect these two factors to help lift export orders in the short term,” Lin said.
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