Taiwan's export orders in November jumped to US$11.56 billion, an 18.59 percent increase over last year, due to the global economic recovery and a stronger Asian appetite for the island's electronics goods, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA, 經濟3? said yesterday.
The November export orders were the second highest monthly total on record after October's US$11.7 billion, breaking the US$11 billion mark for the second month in a row.
Export orders in November had seen over 10 percent increases in all major product sectors except transportation facilities and electrical products, of which the export orders increased 37.25 and 24.42 percent respectively. Imports rose 14.5 percent to US$10.114 billion.
The export markets that have seen the largest increases from Taiwan are the US, Hong Kong, Japan and Europe.
"The rising November orders can be attributed to the demand for Taiwan's highly competitive technology products and other key exports, " said Tu Chaw-hsia (
"October and November's strong performance was possibly due in part to acceleration in production to meet orders delayed by the Sept. 21 earthquake," said Chang Yao-tsung (張耀宗), director general of the statistics department under the MOEA.
"Orders for information and telecommunications products in November amounted to a record US$2.37 billion, up an annualized 24.42 percent from 1998. Orders for electronics goods totaled US$2.19 billion, up 37.25 percent from a year earlier -- also a monthly record. In the January-November period, export orders grew 6.88 percent to US$116.33 billion, the ministry said.
Taiwan clearly is recovering well from the 921 quake and an awful 1998, when exports fell 9.4 percent and imports sank 8.5 percent. Officials have said 1999 exports would grow 9.3 percent to 9.6 percent over 1998, with imports rebounding by around 6 percent.
Taiwan posted sharp gains with its major Asian partners. Orders from Japan jumped 26.87 percent year-on-year.
"The appreciation of the yen pushed Japan to increase imports of lower-level electronic parts such as CD-Rs [compact discs that are write-capable] and TFTs [thin film transistors] from Taiwan at lower prices than from the US to meet its production demands for computer related products," said Cheng Cheng-mount (
Orders from Hong Kong -- much of which are destined ultimately for China, with which Taiwan still forbids direct trade relations -- surged 24.11 percent, among which electronic products accounted for the highest percentage.
Orders from the US, which maintained steady economic growth, rose 11.96 percent year-on-year, among which information and communication products accounted for the highest export increase to the country.
Meanwhile, orders from Europe were up 21.72 percent.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
Tax revenue from securities transactions last month increased 41.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$30.3 billion (US$975.8 million), rising on an annual basis for the third consecutive month and marking the highest for the month of October as Taiwanese stocks continued to perform strongly, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed yesterday. Last month, the TAIEX surged 2,412.81 points, or 9.34 percent, marking its largest-ever monthly rise for October as market sentiment was buoyed by a nearly 15 percent gain in contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which accounts for more than 40 percent of the
BUST FEARS: While a KMT legislator asked if an AI bubble could affect Taiwan, the DGBAS minister said the sector appears on track to continue growing The local property market has cooled down moderately following a series of credit control measures designed to contain speculation, the central bank said yesterday, while remaining tight-lipped about potential rule relaxations. Lawmakers in a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee voiced concerns to central bank officials that the credit control measures have adversely affected the government’s tax income and small and medium-sized property developers, with limited positive effects. Housing prices have been climbing since 2016, even when the central bank imposed its first set of control measures in 2020, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said. “Since the second half of
RSS