Export orders expanded by a weaker-than-expected pace of 0.3 percent year-on-year to US$42.68 billion last month, as demand for high-end notebook computers slowed, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The result represented a 0.7 percent contraction from the previous month’s US$42.96 billion, the ministry’s data showed, suggesting the ongoing recovery of the nation’s export-oriented economy is mild and fragile.
Export orders are an important economic barometer as they shed light on actual exports over a period of one to three months.
The data fell short of the ministry’s forecast of between US$43.5 billion and US$44.5 billion, or an annual growth rate of between 2.2 percent and 4.6 percent.
The ministry denied that sales of Apple Inc’s iPhone 7 models had slowed last month, saying that smartphone-related export orders remained strong.
“Soft orders for high-end notebook computers s subdued the growth in smartphones,” Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) told a news conference.
Orders for precision instruments were also weaker than the government’s forecast, as a high base aided by a large order of flat panels in September slowed the sector’s performance last month, Lin said.
Lin said basic metals and machinery goods were the bright spots last month, thanks to improving average selling prices of steel and the rising orders for industrial automation equipment.
By destination, orders from China, Hong Kong, Europe and ASEAN all increased year-on-year last month supported by demand for electronics goods, as well as information and communications technology products, the data showed.
The US remained the largest export destination, but its orders fell by 1.3 percent year-on-year to US$12.95 billion last month, as demand for chemical products and electronic goods declined, the ministry said.
Although overall export orders missed the ministry’s forecast, the results marked the third consecutive month of annual growth this year, Lin said.
The ministry forecast that annual growth would continue this month, supported by sales of smartphones, notebooks and Internet of Things devices ahead of the Christmas shopping season.
The continued improvement in demand for flat panels and steel, as well as higher prices, would lend support to export orders this month, Lin said.
The lower base of US$40.76 billion recorded last year also increases the chances of a year-on-year increase, she added.
The ministry forecast that export orders this month would total between US$41.8 billion and US$42.8 billion, which would represent year-on-year growth of between 2.6 percent and 5 percent, Lin said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS