Taiwan climbed three places to 17th in the global rankings of merchandise suppliers last year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Friday in Taipei, citing WTO statistics.
Due to a plunge in international crude oil prices, several oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates fell out the top 10 merchandise supplier list, which gave Taiwan a chance to climb in the rankings, the ministry said.
Taiwan’s merchandise exports fell by an annual 10.8 percent to US$285 billion last year, compared with the average global decline of 13.2 percent, the ministry said.
SMALL PLAYER
The nation’s merchandise exports accounted for 1.7 percent of the global total, it said.
The WTO tallies showed China, Japan and Singapore maintained their places at No. 1, No. 4 and No. 14 respectively from the year before, while South Korea climbed one notch to No. 6 and Hong Kong rose two places to No. 7.
IMPORT RANKING
As for merchandise imports, Taiwan ranked as the 18th largest buyer in the world, up one notch from a year earlier, importing US$238 billion worth of goods.
That figure represents a 15.7 percent annual drop and 1.4 percent of the world’s total merchandise imports, the ministry said.
Taiwan was ranked 23rd worldwide last year for the services exports, the same as in 2014, although its services exports dropped by an annual 0.1 percent to US$56 billion last year, making up 1.2 percent of the world’s total, the ministry said.
Services imports rose 3.8 percent from a year earlier to US$47 billion, making the country the 28th largest services importer in the world, up one notch from 2014, with 1 percent of the global total, the ministry said.
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