Exports grew at a faster-than--expected pace last month, thanks to strong demand for oil products as well as information and communication technology (ICT) products, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Outbound shipments surged 11.7 percent last month from a year earlier to US$27.03 billion — faster than the 9.9 percent growth recorded in September, the ministry said in a report.
On a monthly comparison basis, exports rose 9.8 percent last month after falling for two consecutive months, the report said.
“Last month’s exports rose higher than expected given stronger demand for mineral and ICT products made by Taiwanese companies,” Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), director of the ministry’s statistics department, told a press conference.
Exports of “mineral products,” mainly oil products, increased 72.1 percent from a year earlier to US$1.82 billion last month, marking their highest level since August 2008, as Formosa Plastics Group’s (台塑集團) naphtha cracking plants in Mailiao (麥寮), Yunlin County, resumed operations, Lin said.
ICT exports also increased 29.8 percent from a year ago to US$1.91 billion last month, mainly because of robust demand for smartphones, Lin said.
Tony Phoo (符銘財), a Taipei-based economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said the rebound in sales of electronics and ICT products was a reassuring sign that exporters were starting deliveries for orders to meet year-end holiday demand.
However, demand still differed by sector, with exports of LED, DRAM and central processing units (CPU), for instance, still posting double-digit declines year-on-year last month, the ministry said.
Shipments to major global destinations surged last month from a year ago, with exports to the six ASEAN emerging markets outpacing other markets by rising 23.7 percent to US$4.53 billion, the ministry said.
It expects exports to grow another 10 percent in the last two months of the year, and full-year growth of between 13 percent and 15 percent.
Meanwhile, imports last month rose 11.8 percent from a year earlier and 3.8 percent from a month earlier to US$23.71 billion, the ministry said.
Inbound shipments of consumer goods hit a record high of US$2.2 billion, led by demand for automobiles, it said.
However, imports of capital goods declined 15.8 percent from a year ago to US$3 billion, their lowest level since March 2008, indicating that a slowing global economy has impacted local companies’ capital spending, the ministry said.
The resultant trade surplus last month rose 11.1 percent year-on-year to US$3.32 billion, ministry data showed.
Cheng Cheng-mount (鄭貞茂), chief economist at Citigroup in Taipei, said that compared with the third quarter, imports last month indicated that domestic demand remained resilient and the downtrend in capital goods imports also decelerated.
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