Exports last month rose US$9.4 billion, or 57.9 percent, from a year ago, to a record high of US$25.54 billion on the back of strong demand in Asia as the global economy rebounds, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Imports also soared US$9.3 billion, or 71.4 percent year-on-year, to US$22.3 billion, posting the highest amount since September 2008, when the global financial crisis hit the nation, it said.
“Since Asia accounts for 70 percent of the nation's export markets, the rapidly growing demand in the region for electronics products has significantly boosted our export performance,” said Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), head of the ministry's statistics department.
Lin said that last month’s exports surpassed the pre-crisis level of US$25.2 billion, adding that exports to China, including Hong Kong, the six ASEAN nations and South Korea all reached historical highs last month.
Of the US$9.4 billion year-on-year gain in exports last month, shipments to ASEAN saw the largest increase at 67.4 percent from a year earlier, or US$1.64 billion, followed by China, including Hong Kong, at 65.8 percent, or US$4.4 billion, data showed.
Standard Chartered economist Tony Phoo (符銘財) said in a statement that exports to Europe, which grew 49.1 percent year-on-year to US$2.5 billion, seemed to shrug off concern over Greece’s credit crisis, although they were still far below the record US$2.8 billion registered in June 2008.
“This indicates that the impact of the European sovereign debt crisis appeared to be far less than we had initially feared,” Phoo said.
Imports of capital equipment rose US$1.89 billion, or 114.1 percent year-on-year, to US$3.55 billion last month, representing the third straight month that imports have exceeded US$3 billion, the ministry's data showed.
In the first five months of the year, exports totaled US$109.2 billion, posting an increase of 52.7 percent year-on-year, while imports rose 71.4 percent from a year earlier to US$98.55 billion. The trade surplus reached US$10.7 billion, down 23.1 percent from a year earlier.
With exports reaching a record high last month, Lin is upbeat about the outlook for the rest of the year.
“[Monthly] exports could remain over US$20 billion for the rest of the year, with the fourth quarter likely setting a new record as it's the high season,” Lin said.
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