Exports last month expanded for the third consecutive month compared with a year ago, as global economic recovery drove demand for electronic and semiconductor products made in Taiwan, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The nation’s outbound shipments were valued at US$26.6 billion last month, up 6.2 percent from a year earlier, but down 4.2 percent from March, the ministry said in its monthly report.
“The electronics sector maintained its strong expansion and was the key driver for exports last month,” Yeh Maan-tzwu (葉滿足), director of the ministry’s statistics department, told reporters at a press conference.
Exports of electronic products totaled US$8.16 billion last month, up 14.7 percent from a year earlier and marking their highest level in history, the report said.
Various non-electronic sectors, such as chemicals, plastic and rubber products, metal products and mechanical products, also reported their outbound shipments showing steady growth last month from a year ago, the report said.
However, optical sector exports, as well as information and communications technology (ICT) products, still showed a double-digit decline last month from a year earlier, according to the report.
Overall, overseas shipments to major economies showed year-on-year growth last month, reflecting the mild pace of global economic recovery, Yeh said.
Exports to the US, which rose 6.9 percent from a year earlier to US$3.03 billion last month, marked their highest level in two-and-a-half years, the ministry said.
Shipments to China and Hong Kong — Taiwan’s largest export destination — also increased 5 percent last month from a year ago, compared with a year-on-year contraction of 0.3 percent in March, indicating a possible rebound in the Chinese economy, Hong Kong-based ANZ Research senior economist Raymond Yeung (楊宇霆) said.
“The results signaled that a global recovery is firmly underway, reinforcing the belief in our positive external outlook for Taiwan,” Yeung added.
Looking ahead, the ministry said exports may improve quarter-by-quarter this year.
The ministry’s report showed that imports came to US$24.06 billion last month, up 5.8 percent from the previous year, but down 6.8 percent from the previous month.
That led the nation’s trade surplus to reach US$2.53 billion last month, an increase of US$240 million from a year earlier, the ministry said.
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