Products across the board saw declines in export orders last month, except for information and communications technology (ICT) items, as orders dropped for the eighth consecutive month, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Orders totaled US$38.5 billion, down 4.5 percent year-on-year, with cumulative orders in the first six months decreasing 6.5 percent to US$222.86 billion, the ministry said.
Orders for ICT products rose by 4.7 percent to US$11.09 billion, which the ministry attributed to a growth in orders of high-priced laptops and the impact of frontloaded laptop orders.
US orders for ICT products, Taiwan’s biggest market in the segment, increased by US$510 million year-on-year, taking up to 41.5 percent of the sector’s total orders, the ministry said.
Orders for electronics products slipped 4.3 percent to US$9.93 billion due to weak global demand and plunging DRAM chip prices, it said.
While China and Hong Kong remain the biggest markets for Taiwanese electronics products, their export orders in this category declined by US$540 million from a year earlier, while orders to the US increased by US$220 million, the ministry said.
Due to an oversaturated flat-panel market, the result of increasing Chinese production, optoelectronics orders dropped by 8.5 percent to US$1.85 billion, with orders for China and Hong Kong declining by US$160 million, it said.
Machinery makers continued to suffer from the US-China trade dispute, with their export orders dropping 22.3 percent to US$1.64 billion, while base metal products saw a 15.7 percent decrease to US$2.11 billion, with the US cutting orders by US$160 million, the ministry said.
Petrochemical products and plastics/rubber products were also affected by sluggish market demand caused by the US-China dispute, with orders contracting by 18.5 percent and 9.6 percent respectively, to US$1.63 billion and US$1.83, the ministry said.
Falling international crude oil prices also contributed to the declines, it added.
Overall, the nation’s export orders to the US hit a record high at US$11.7 billion, up 6.8 percent year-on-year and making it the nation’s biggest overseas market, while China and Hong Kong followed closely at US$9.35 billion, down 14.6 percent year-on-year, it said.
Europe came in third with a 5.3 percent yearly decline to US$6.75, due to slipping orders of petrochemicals and base metal products, while ASEAN and Japan ranked fourth and fifth respectively, with orders increasing by 13 percent and 7.9 percent.
Orders are unlikely to pick up if the US-China dispute drags on, because that would result in slow global demand and falling metal and crude oil prices, the ministry said.
A survey of exporting companies also suggested that orders would further decline this month, it said.
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