Taiwan's exports in the first half of October nearly doubled from the preceding two weeks, suggesting overseas demand is helping offset disruption caused by the earthquake and resultant production halts.
Exports between Oct. 1 and Oct. 16 rose to US$5.63 billion, the Ministry of Finance said. That implies an increase of 86 percent from the second half of last month, based on full month figures for September released Oct. 7.
Compared with a year ago, exports rose 23.5 percent in the first two weeks of the month.
Imports, about half of which are usually raw materials for use in making goods for export, more than doubled in the two weeks to US$5.98 billion. Taiwan notched a merchandise trade deficit of US$339 million for the first half of October, compared with a surplus in the second-half of September.
Taiwan hasn't recorded a monthly trade deficit since December last year. For the year to date, exports have risen 7.2 percent from the same period a year earlier to US$92.6 billion, while imports have risen 3.4 percent to US$84.0 billion, leaving a trade surplus of US$8.57 billion.
Gross exports make up about 40 percent of the island's total economic output. Taiwan's economy is expected to grow about 5.5 percent this year, according to the government's forecast.
The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, one of Taiwan's top think-tanks, last week forecast the economy will expand 5.3 percent growth this year.
Taiwan releases mid-month trade figures in addition to full-month figures.
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