The nation’s export orders last month fell 3.4 percent annually and 1.9 percent monthly to US$35.03 billion, weaker than the government’s previous estimate, and the 16th consecutive month of annual decline in export orders, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Earlier ministry forecasts for export orders were between US$35.5 billion and US$36 billion.
“Export orders were less than predicted, mainly because the average selling price of notebook computers declined last month,” Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) told a news conference.
Lin said that the shipment volume of notebooks was flattish l from June, but the lower average selling prices for educational notebooks largely dragged down the overall value.
NOTEBOOKS
She also attributed the export orders’ annual decline to a higher base last year due to massive orders for a wearable product placed by a US company.
Due to the higher base and lower average selling prices of notebooks, export orders for information and communication products fell 3.3 percent annually and 7.6 percent monthly to US$9.56 billion, the ministry added.
Orders for electronics dropped 1.8 percent to US$9.34 billion from a year earlier, but orders expanded by 0.7 percent from a month ago, supported by rising demand for chips used in smartphones and Internet of Things devices, Lin said.
Export orders for basic metals contracted 1.2 percent annually, but grew 0.6 percent from a month earlier, on the back of the increasing average selling prices of steel products that prompted clients to build inventory, Lin said.
Although the growth in basic metal orders remained in the negative territory, the annual decline of 1.2 percent was the smallest since November 2014, she said.
Supported by the rising demand and average selling prices of panel products, the annual decline in orders for precision instruments narrowed to 15.8 percent from the previous month’s 17.7 percent, Lin said.
OUTLOOK
Lin said orders for petrochemical, plastics and rubbers, and machinery products continued to drop by a single-digit percentage from a year ago, due to low international crude oil prices and a clouded global economic outlook.
By destination, orders placed from the US shrank 1.6 percent annually and 0.7 percent monthly to US$10.05 billion, due to inventory adjustments for electronics, Lin said.
Orders from China and Hong Kong expanded by 0.7 percent annually to US$8.79 billion, the first upswing since November 2014, ministry data showed.
Lin attributed the expansion from China and Hong Kong to the rising demand for chips used in smartphones and improving demand for large-sized panels for TVs.
Lin said the ministry expects this month’s export orders to be flattish from last month, with an estimate of between US$35 billion and US$36 billion.
Lin said she is optimistic about export orders expanding from this month, as usually Apple Inc’s new generation iPhones start boosting the nation’s export orders from September every year following the launch of its new handsets.
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