The nation’s exports last month rose 0.5 percent to US$28.39 billion, a record for June, as demand for electronics gained momentum ahead of the launches of next-generation devices, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The surprising pickup reversed seven consecutive months of decline, but the ministry hesitated to speculate on a recovery, saying that uncertainty lingers and most firms remain conservative in their outlook.
“It is premature to say, due to poor visibility, whether the pickup is an isolated occurrence or the sign of a stable uptrend,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said in a report.
Outbound shipments could go either way this month, as well as beyond that, depending on how the global economy unfolds, Tsai said.
Export data showed that outbound shipments of semiconductors rose 8 percent to US$8.05 billion, outperforming the 3.3 percent increase for electronics shipments.
Inventory demand from international technology brands likely underpinned the showing, Tsai said, alluding to Apple Inc.
Chip supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) is to offer guidance during its quarterly investors’ conference next week.
Exports of information and communications products increased 20.2 percent from a year earlier, as makers of computer components moved facilities home from China, Tsai said.
The relocations enabled shipments to the US to increase 18.5 percent, but shipments to all other destinations — China, Europe, Japan and ASEAN markets — fell, the report said.
China made up 38.7 percent of exports, its second-lowest total ever, while the US made up 13.9 percent, its highest in 13 years, Tsai said.
Exports of chemical and plastic products continued to shrink at a double-digit percentage pace, as languid demand weighed on raw material prices, she said.
Last month’s imports recovered faster with a 6.6 percent increase to US$24.51 billion, thanks to the aggressive purchasing of capital equipment by local firms, leaving a trade surplus of US$3.87 billion for the month, a 26.1 percent retreat from a year earlier, it said.
Imports of semiconductor capital equipment nearly doubled as firms sought to stay out in front of the global market, Tsai said, adding that facility relocations and foreign investment in Taiwan also lent support.
Second-quarter exports fell 2.6 percent to US$81.91 billion, while imports rose 0.9 percent to US$70.89 billion, both beating a May forecast by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Tsai said.
“Again, I cannot say that trade tensions have turned out less severe, as things have not yet settled,” she said.
In the first half of this year, exports contracted 3.4 percent, while imports squeezed out a 0.1 percent increase, the report said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last