Last month’s export orders grew 52.63 percent from a year earlier to US$31.73 billion, marking the highest annual growth rate for a single month.
Last month’s growth was attributed to the recovering global economy and a relatively low base in December 2008, when the global financial crisis was hitting hard, Huang Ji-shih (黃吉實), director of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ statistics department, told a press conference yesterday.
The number was comparable to the highest single-month annual decline in January last year, which saw exports drop 41.67 percent, the department said.
For the whole of last year, export orders hit US$322.44 billion, down 8.33 percent from a year earlier.
“Export orders started to post positive growth in October thanks to momentum in emerging markets. Fourth-quarter exports returned to normal [pre-financial crisis] levels,” Huang said. “That narrowed the whole-year decline to only a single-digit drop.”
Export orders to China, which is the nation’s largest market, hit US$85.77 billion last year, representing an annual decline of 2.41 percent. That was the smallest decline among all markets, he said.
This was because of the Chinese government’s policy of encouraging residents in villages and the suburbs to replace older home electronic appliances, which successfully spurred demand, Huang said.
Europe saw the sharpest decline at 13.68 percent, with export orders reaching US$57.5 billion last year.
Meanwhile, information, communications and technology products made up the bulk of exports last year at 24.6 percent, or US$79.32 billion. Stronger shipments of notebooks and networking products were posted as demand in emerging markets picked up, while the launch of Microsoft Corp’s new operating system, Windows 7, and the introduction of new smartphone models also helped, the department said.
Precision machinery, which made up 8.7 percent of exports, rebounded the most among all product categories.
Looking forward, Huang said export figures this month were expected to be less than those of last month because it is traditionally a slower period, but the decline wouldn’t be as sharp as last year thanks to the better economic environment.
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