Export orders fell 3.04 percent last month from a year earlier to US$36.47 billion, marking the third consecutive month of single-digit year-on-year decline because of continuous weak demand, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
By country, export orders from China — the nation’s largest export destination — declined 4.32 percent year-on-year last month to US$9.42 billion, with precision instruments accounting for the biggest decline.
“The decrease [in orders] marked the sixth consecutive year-on-year decline and reflected China’s economy remaining in a conundrum,” Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜), deputy director of the ministry’s Department of Statistics, told a press conference.
Export orders from the US grew 5.86 percent year-on-year to US$8.75 billion last month, with electronic products contributing most to the increase, topping the same month last year by US$240 million, the ministry’s data showed.
“The US was the only region among the six major export regions from which Taiwan received year-on-year export growth in May, indicating better momentum in the US economy and stronger private consumption in the country,” Tsai said.
Orders from Europe fell 8.17 percent annually to US$6.33 billion, with transportation goods accounting for the most contraction, the data showed.
Six ASEAN countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) placed US$3.88 billion in orders with Taiwan — a decline of 8.16 percent from last year, data showed.
It marked the first decline for the six ASEAN nations since the financial crisis of 2008, Tsai said.
Last month’s export orders from Japan declined for the 13th consecutive month since May last year, but last month was the smallest decline recorded, indicating that Japan was recovering from the earthquake and tsunami in March last year, Tsai said.
By product, information technology and electronics goods accounted for the greatest number of orders with totals of US$9 billion and US$8.52 billion respectively. The US and China were the two largest importers of those goods, the ministry said.
On a monthly basis, export orders rose 1.07 percent from the US$36.09 billion reported in April, the data showed.
Orders in the first five months contracted US$970 million, or 0.55 percent, to US$176.37 billion from a year ago, the data showed.
This month, export orders are expected to dip year-on-year from the US$37.36 billion recorded a year ago, the ministry said.
Those figures should improve slightly from last month given that a ministry sentiment index stood at 55.59, which was above the base of 50, Tsai said.
Looking ahead, some beneficial factors, such as events like Computex and Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, would drive up export orders for handheld devices and notebook PCs, Tsai said.
China’s lowering of interest rates to stimulate domestic consumption would also help export orders.
However, the debt crisis in the eurozone, the slowing global economy, declining demand for plastic, chemical and basic metal raw materials and the approach of the traditional weak season for electronic industries would negatively affect the export order outlook in the near future, Tsai said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique