Exports contracted by 2.1 percent annually to US$22.89 billion last month, the smallest decline in 17 months, as demand for technology products gained traction while non-technology exports remained weak, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Trade figures might return to positive territory this month, ending 17 consecutive months of declines, as demand spurred by inventory-building looks healthy and sustainable if Brexit and other downside risks prove to be controllable, Department of Statistics Director-General Yeh Maan-tzwu (葉滿足) said.
“The growth momentum for electronic component exports is likely to be sustainable given the sanguine guidance by major technology firms and continued increase in their capital spending,” Yeh said by telephone.
Virtual reality, handheld and Internet of Things gadgets are acting as catalysts in an upward trend that might further improve with the expected launches of Apple Inc’s next-generation iPhone, iPad and other products in September, Yeh said.
Barring price disruptions, outbound shipments have registered a 4.1 percent increase, Yeh said, adding that lower crude oil and raw material costs decreased export prices by 6.2 percent.
Imports shrank 10 percent to US$19.31 billion last month, leading to a trade surplus of US$3.58 billion, an improvement of 85.2 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.
During the April-to-June period, exports fell 6.2 percent from the same period last year, but still fared better than the 6.82 percent decline forecast by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) in May.
The trade data would lend support to the agency’s GDP growth forecast for this year’s fourth quarter if private consumption holds steady, Yeh said.
The economy is expected to grow 0.48 percent in the second quarter, ending three quarters of recession, the DGBAS projected.
Exports of electronic components grew 11.5 percent to US$7.44 billion, while information and communication devices rose 4.3 percent to US$2.5 billion, the report said.
However, exports of mineral and optical products, as well as transportation machinery, declined by about 20 percent, due to weak demand, the report said.
Exports to China fell by 4.5 percent, while exports to ASEAN members dropped by 4.4 percent, both easing from double-digit declines seen in previous months, according to the ministry data.
Exports to the US, Japan and Europe increased by 3.1 percent, 0.8 percent and 0.1 percent respectively, the report said, suggesting the recovery is slow and fragile.
Credit Suisse Group AG said that pickup in technology production might extend into the the second half of the year.
Taiwanese semiconductor companies have increased their purchases of capital equipment to help maintain their leadership.
However, Credit Suisse expects the slowdown in China’s private fixed investment to weigh on Taiwan’s exports and private investment despite stabilizing oil prices.
In the first half of the year, exports totaled US$131.33 billion, down 9.1 percent from a year earlier, while imports declined 10.7 percent year-on-year to US$107.3 billion, with the trade surplus dropping US$270 million from a year earlier to US$24.03 billion during the period, the ministry’s report said.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the