The nation’s machine tool exports declined slightly in the first two months of the year, down by 1.2 percent from a year ago, although exports to China rebounded, the latest industrial data showed.
Exports for the first two months of the year dropped to US$479.47 million, down from US$485.35 million a year ago, according to data compiled by the Taiwan Machine Tool and Accessory Builders’ Association (TMBA).
Exports to China, the sector’s largest export destination, grew 2.9 percent during that period US$136.34 million from the US$132.52 million reached in the same period last year, data showed.
Although machine tool buyers in China did not replenish their inventory in January before the Lunar New Year, they significantly increased their purchases last month after the long holiday, association secretary-general Carl Huang (黃建中) said by telephone yesterday.
Exports to China increased 26.3 percent to US$76.1 million last month from US$60.23 million in January, the association’s data showed.
Last month’s figure was 76.9 percent higher than the US$43.01 million reached a year ago, the data showed.
Many Chinese machine tool buyers had problems acquiring funds to make purchases, which hurt a lot of Chinese suppliers, but Taiwanese suppliers were relatively unaffected, Huang said.
“The lack of funds in China affected the demand of low-level machine tools most severely, while Taiwanese machine toolmakers focus mostly on middle-level tools,” he said.
However, exports to the US and Thailand, the sector’s second and third-largest export destinations respectively, declined in the first two months of the year.
Exports to the US dropped 18.9 percent to US$53.68 million from US$66.17 million a year ago, the association’s data showed.
Machine tool demand in the US was low because of a lack of workers in the manufacturing sector, Huang said.
Exports to Thailand were down 26.9 percent to US$27.11 million from US$37.08 million a year ago, the data showed.
“Southeast Asia is the production base of many Japanese enterprises, and the nation’s machine tool exports to the region were significantly affected by the depreciation of the yen,” Huang said.
Exports to Turkey, the sector’s fourth-largest destination, surged 8.9 percent to US$24.82 million from US$22.79 million last year, while exports to Germany, the fifth-largest destination, grew 35 percent to US$21.2 million from US$15.71 million a year ago, the data showed.
Huang said the economic situation in Europe is improving, and Germany is the largest hub for Taiwanese machine tools to enter the region for distribution to other European countries.
Machine tool exports next month are expected to remain as flat as this month, while next quarter is likely to see a sequential increase based on orders received, Huang said.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
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
RSS