The growing trade in manufactured parts and components is helping East Asia weather the strengthening of regional currencies while inducing greater economic integration, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report said yesterday.
"This burgeoning `trade in tasks' is less sensitive to real exchange movements than exports of primary commodities or finished manufactured goods," the Philippines-based lender said in its updated Asian Development Outlook report.
The subregion's intermediate goods trade burgeoned between 1990 and last year, with China becoming a significant export destination for neighbors, particularly for machinery and transport equipment parts and components, it said.
The shift away from more labor-intensive product exports was driven by rising wage costs and attendant real currency appreciation.
Although outsourcing components is now a global phenomenon, "it is far more important and is growing more rapidly in East Asia than elsewhere in the world," ADB said.
"Though exports are now growing quickly in some countries of South Asia, it has not yet latched onto international production networks to the same degree as East Asia," it said.
Production of parts and components now accounts for 57.8 percent of total manufacturing in the Philippines, 50.4 percent in Malaysia, 47.6 percent in Singapore, 38.7 percent in Taiwan, 33.2 percent in South Korea, 31.4 percent in China, 30.8 percent in Thailand, 29.7 percent in Hong Kong and 16.1 percent in Indonesia.
"It is clear that international product fragmentation taking place in this region has induced more intraregional trade over the past 15 years," it said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS