Export orders last month fell 10.5 percent annually to US$43.38 billion, marking the steepest monthly decline in 32 months as slowing global economic growth and trade tensions took a heavy toll on external demand, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
On a monthly basis, orders declined 9 percent, accelerating from a 2.7 percent fall in November, the ministry said.
Overall, aggregate export orders in the past year still rose 3.9 percent to US$511.82 billion to set a new high, the ministry said.
The decline in orders last month was primarily driven by tepid demand for high-end smartphones and cryptocurrency mining equipment, which sent shocks across the local technology and electronics industry, Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) told a news conference in Taipei.
In many export categories, last month’s showing was the weakest in the 11 years since the height of the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, and it wiped out many of the gains made between January and October last year, Lin said.
Information and communication products, the biggest export category, last month saw orders fall 13 percent annually to US$13.84 billion, while electronics orders dropped 8 percent from December 2017 to NT$11.63 billion.
As trade tensions between the US and China remain, machinery goods were hit especially hard, with orders dropping 22.5 percent to US$1.68 billion, the ministry said.
Lin attributed the drop to Chinese customers cutting 50.3 percent of their orders, or US$330 million, in anticipation of further trade-related uncertainty.
Gains in export orders for wearable devices and networking equipment were the only bright spots, Lin said, adding that gloomy demand prospects also dragged on traditional industries, while an 8.3 percent drop in crude oil prices added downward pressure on average selling prices, leading to a 16.5 percent drop in export order value for plastics and other petrochemical goods.
Prices for plastics and industrial chemicals have fallen 5.1 percent and 16.5 percent respectively, Lin added.
Export orders to China and Hong Kong last month dropped 10.3 percent annually to US$9.84 billion, but over the whole of last year grew 6.2 percent to a record US$130.23 billion.
The ministry’s supplier survey indicated that export orders could fall further this month, Lin said, adding that this year’s slow season for the technology and electronics sectors would be especially pronounced.
In light of stagnating growth in the smartphone sector, the ministry urged Taiwanese brands to learn from the success of Shenzhen-based Transsion Holdings (傳音科技), which has become one of China’s top smartphone exporters by addressing the unique needs of African markets.
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