The nation’s exports fell 4.5 percent year-on-year during the first two months of this year, dropping to US$44.49 billion, owing to the high basis for comparison and continued global economic uncertainties, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
While it marks the first annual contraction since 2009, it was also the second-highest level in history, the ministry said.
However, outbound shipments rose last month to US$23.41 billion, up 10.3 percent from the previous year and 11 percent from the previous month, since the Lunar New Year holiday was in February last year, the ministry said. This also dragged down the comparison basis for last month, it added.
“Exports in the first two months were lower than expected because of the slowing global economy,” Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), director of the ministry’s statistics department, told reporters.
However, Lin said she expects exports to begin rebounding in the second quarter following the launch of new electronic products by local technology companies and the improving external economic environment, led by an easing of the eurozone debt crisis and a strengthening US economy.
“This month’s export numbers will definitely be better than those for last month [based on current data],” Lin said.
Exports of information and communication technology products dropped 20.8 percent from a year ago to US$2.12 billion in the first two months, marking the steepest decline among the nation’s 10 major export sectors. It was followed by the chemical product sector and electronics sector, the ministry said in a report.
Exports of chemical products fell 11 percent year-on-year to US$3.4 billion, while those of electronic products — the country’s largest export sector — slid 9 percent to US$11.89 billion.
The six main ASEAN members were the only region to post annual growth in exports in the first two months.
Outbound shipments to the region climbed 5.9 percent from a year ago to US$8.18 billion, the report said.
Exports to the six members accounted for 18.4 percent of total exports in the first two months, the highest level in history.
The nation’s imports, or inbound shipments, dropped 5.8 percent from a year earlier to US$41.24 billion in the first two months, the second-highest level ever, but also the first annual contraction since 2009, the ministry’s statistics showed.
The drop caused the trade surplus to soar to US$3.25 billion, up 16.3 percent year-on-year, compared with US$2.79 billion posted last year.
Imports of consumer goods hit a record-high level of US$3.93 billion in the first two months, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier, with mobile device imports jumping 80.1 percent to US$210 million, data showed.
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