Taiwan’s exports last month grew 29.2 percent year-on-year to a record US$39.65 billion, as demand for electronics used in digital transformation and new technology applications increased, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Non-tech sectors also benefited from inventory replenishment demand, fueled by a continuing global recovery that allowed their growth to be faster than technology products, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said.
The results outperformed her estimated gain of 23 to 27 percent despite fewer working days due to the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Photo: CNA
“All major product categories saw solid gains, although optical devices, mainly camera lenses used in smartphones and flat panels for laptops and TVs, only increased 4.8 percent, the slowest in 14 months,” Tsai said.
Demand from remote working and schooling lessened as vaccination rates improved around the world, she said, adding that China’s tightened controls of non-school educational facilities helped dampen buying interest.
That accounted for relatively lackluster showings for shipments of optical and memory products, as some suppliers opted to arrange annual maintenance of spare capacity.
Overall, exports of electronics rose 26.8 percent to US$16.58 billion, thanks to record chip shipments that swelled 27.6 percent year-on-year to US$15.11 billion, Tsai said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the sole chip supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhone series, yesterday posted NT$152.69 billion in revenue for last month, the first rise above the NT$150 billion mark and representing a 19.7 percent upswing to a new high.
Shipments of information and communications products jumped 22.8 percent to US$5.4 billion, the ministry’s report showed.
Exports of base metal, plastic, chemical and mineral products posted steeper gains of between 32.5 and 139.8 percent from a year earlier as the US and Europe sought a return to normalcy despite ongoing COVID-19 infections.
Imports rose 40.4 percent to US$33.21 billion, as local semiconductor firms aggressively purchased capital equipment to meet business needs and upgrade technologies, the report said.
That gave Taiwan a trade surplus of US$6.45 billion, a decline of 8.6 percent from a year earlier, it said.
For the third quarter, exports advanced 30.1 percent, slightly missing the government’s August projection of 30.42 percent. Imports increased 42.5 percent, beating the forecast of 38.7 percent, the report said.
Exports are expected to remain vibrant this month with an increase of 21 to 25 percent and are likely to exceed US$40 billion, despite a high base last year, Tsai said.
For the first nine months, exports grew 30.7 percent to US$324.07 billion, while imports gained 33.3 percent to US$276.39 billion, the ministry said.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
RSS