The nation’s exports grew 13.2 percent year-on-year to US$25.71 billion last month, as local firms benefited from inventory-building demand ahead of high-season sales in China, and development of next-generation electronic devices, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The growth dynamism could sustain this quarter, as the world economy is gaining momentum, giving global technology brands confidence to upgrade devices to boost sales.
“Exports saw an uptrend for the sixth consecutive month and recovered above the US$25 billion mark, in line with a stable economic recovery at home and abroad,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said.
The upcoming Golden Week in China to celebrate Workers’ Day is leading firms to build inventory as people are expected to take advantage of the week-long holiday to buy new electronic gadgets, Tsai said.
That helped explain why shipments to China, including Hong Kong, gained 16.8 percent from a year earlier to US$10.27 billion last month, making it Taiwan’s largest export market with a 39.9 percent share, the ministry’s report showed.
Exports to ASEAN nations totaled US$4.94 billion, rising 16.4 percent from a year earlier, as emerging economies in the trade bloc grew into the nation’s second-largest trade partner, the report said.
Demand for large flat panels gained popularity as evidenced by a 20.4 percent pickup to US$1.02 billion, a rare sign of late, Tsai said, attributing the phenomenon to low inventory in China.
Semiconductors retained their status as the main growth driver, increasing 25 percent year-on-year to US$7.55 billion last month, accounting for 29.4 percent of overall shipments, the report said.
Local chipmakers, camera lens vendors and other electronics component suppliers are helping global technology leaders, such as Apple Inc, redesign their smartphones and other devices that are set to hit the market later this year, Tsai said.
“That will continue to supply the catalyst for growth this quarter and beyond,” she said.
Meanwhile, recovering crude oil prices and global economy energized investment interest.
Imports grew at a faster pace of 19.8 percent to US$21.78 billion last month, diminishing the nation’s trade surplus by 13.2 percent to US$3.93 billion, the report said.
Imports of raw materials and capital equipment jumped 24.8 percent and 21.5 percent to US$15.14 billion and US$3.78 billion respectively, the report said.
For the first quarter, exports increased 15.1 percent to US$72.12 billion, while imports gained 21.6 percent to US$61.32 billion, the fastest pace of gain in six years, it said, adding that the cumulative trade surplus weakened 11.8 percent to US$10.79 billion.
UNCONVINCING: The US Congress questioned whether the company’s Chinese owners pose a national security risk and how the app might influence young users TikTok chief executive officer Shou Chew (周受資), confronted with an unforgiving, distrustful US Congress, tried to give answers in his testimony on Thursday that avoided offending either the US government or China. However, his evasiveness left Congress unsatisfied, with representatives hungrier than ever to punish TikTok for ties to its parent company ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動), based in Beijing. He did not bring his company any closer to a resolution. Politically, TikTok is in a tougher spot. Its executives had been discussing divesting from ByteDance to resolve US national security concerns, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. However, China this week said
Sanofi SA’s drug Dupixent succeeded in a late-stage trial for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), raising the odds that the blockbuster would be the first biologic medicine cleared to treat the lung disorder. Dupixent, which is already prescribed for asthma and some skin conditions, showed a 30 percent reduction in the rate at which patients’ COPD worsened compared with those who received a placebo during the stage-three Boreas trial, the company said in a statement yesterday. The positive data could herald a new era of cutting-edge treatments for the life-threatening respiratory affliction and provide another major boost in demand for the French
SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT: The international trade group said the sector would recover from a slump, with spending expected to rise 4.2 percent to US$24.9 billion Taiwan is to retain its position as the top spender on semiconductor front-end equipment and facilities next year, with spending expected to increase 4.2 percent year-on-year to US$24.9 billion, international trade group SEMI said yesterday. The spending forecast matches an expected recovery in global semiconductor equipment and facilities investment next year, it said. International equipment spending is to return to growth next year, SEMI said in a report, forecasting 21 percent growth to US$92 billion. The expansion would manly be driven by robust demand for semiconductors in the automotive and high-performance computing segments, the association said. “This quarter’s SEMI World Fab Forecast update
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry faces multiple challenges, from the need to conduct further research into forward-looking technologies to a shortage of talent, an industry executive said on Wednesday. Advancing forward-looking semiconductor research and nurturing talent require long-term joint efforts by the industry, government and academia, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) corporate research director Marvin Chang (張孟凡) said. Chang outlined the challenges in a speech at a semiconductor forum organized by the National Science and Technology Council (NTSC) in Hsinchu. Noting that manufacturers have been deploying fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) technology for more than a decade to develop advanced microprocessors, Chang said nanosheet is
RSS