The nation’s export orders last month unexpectedly dropped 3.8 percent annually to US$32.45 billion on a weaker-than-expected seasonal effect, ending 18 months of annual expansion, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The result missed the ministry’s forecast of between US$33 billion and US$34 billion, it said.
“The slowing demand for smartphones and the persistent falling prices of large flat panels amid the slow season were the main reasons for the annual decline,” Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) told a news conference.
The sluggish monthly performance eroded the growth momentum of the combined export orders in the first two months of this year, rising only 8.3 percent annually instead of the ministry’s estimated double-digit percentage climb.
The ministry forecast that export orders would continue to drop by between 2.7 percent and 5.2 percent annually this month, mainly due to a higher comparison base, Lin said.
“We do not think the annual decline will extend to next month or next quarter, as the global economy keeps expanding and there are no negative indications for us to worry about at the moment,” she said.
Last month, orders for information, communications and technology (ICT) products and electronic goods — the pillars of the nation’s export orders — shrank 8.6 percent annually, as weak smartphone sales offset the demand for servers, cryptocurrency mining equipment and game consoles, Lin said.
Optoelectronics products last month suffered a 17.9 percent annual contraction, the first year-on-year decline in the past 15 months, she added.
“Demand for large flat panels used in TVs was steady, but average selling prices plummeted by as much as 24 percent annually in the first two months of this year,” she said, citing data compiled by London-based IHS Markit Ltd.
Taiwanese flat-panel makers are expected to face increased pricing pressure next year, when Chinese rivals’ planned production capacity expansions become operational, Lin said.
The nation’s traditional sectors maintained robust growth compared with the performance of the technology sector, she said, adding that orders for basic metals, machinery goods and petrochemical products expanded last month from the same period last year, after benefiting from the expanding global economy which spurred demand and prices for raw materials.
Orders from the US, China, Hong Kong, Europe and the ASEAN region all fell annually, with the US dropping the most with an 8.8 percent decline in orders for ICT and electronics goods, the report showed.
Japan gained 2 percent year-on-year, Lin said, attributing the growth to the strong demand for Japanese electronics vendors’ game consoles.
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