The nation’s export orders rose 0.5 percent to US$36.32 billion last month from a year earlier, driven by an increase in the number of orders for new handheld devices, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday.
The figured marked the second consecutive rise in export orders, with last month’s number having grown 0.6 percent from US$36.11 billion in July.
By destination, orders from China, the US, Europe and ASEAN members expanded last month, but orders from Japan dropped by 14.3 percent.
ANNUAL FALL
Cumulative orders for the first eight months of the year have fallen by 1.2 percent to US$281.56 from the US$284.84 billion recorded in the same period last year, the ministry said.
“The upward monthly trend shows that changes in export orders are being brought under control, although last month’s rise was not as sharp as expected,” Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), director of the ministry’s department of statistics, told a press conference.
Lin attributed last month’s growth in export orders to higher demand for information and communication products, electronics and chemical products.
GOOD APPLE
For this month, Lin forecast that the nation’s export orders would exceed US$37 billion, driven by orders for Apple Inc’s new iPhone models, but would still fall short of last year’s level due to a higher benchmark last year, she said.
According to the ministry’s survey, 57.8 percent of local firms expect the volume of orders to flatten this month from last month, with 18.7 percent forecasting that orders would increase and 23.5 percent forecast predicting a contraction.
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