The nation’s economic growth in the first half of the year trumped that of Japan and South Korea, despite declining exports, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a report published on Monday.
In the first half of the year, Taiwan’s economy grew 2.4 percent year-on-year, surpassing South Korea’s 2.1 percent and Japan’s 1.2 percent, as the nation benefited from transferred orders and Taiwanese companies returning home to avoid higher tariffs amid US-China trade tensions, the report said.
That is not to say that the trade dispute has not affected Taiwanese exports, the ministry said.
Based on the ministry’s calculations, Taiwan has an export dependency of 56.6 percent — the highest among the three countries, with South Korea’s standing at 37.4 percent and Japan’s at 14.9 percent, it said.
Taiwanese exports fell by 2.5 percent year-on-year over the first nine months of the year amid stalled demand due to the global economic slowdown and lower prices for raw materials, the report said.
However, South Korean exports fell 9.8 percent over the same period, a much steeper decline, while Japan’s outbound shipments fell 4.8 percent from January to August, the ministry said.
As exports to the US increased while decreasing to other countries, South Korea profited from a 3.6 percent annual increase and Japan from a 4.2 percent increase, while Taiwan — outstripping the other two — saw a 17.7 percent surge in exports to the US over the past nine months, the report said.
The jump in exports was attributed to Taiwan specializing in the export of electronics, as the nation reported a 60.5 percent annual increase in the shipment of information technology, network communications and audio-visual products to the US over the first nine months, the report said.
South Korea saw a 14.1 percent increase in vehicle shipments over the period, while Japan saw a 10.6 percent increase in the shipment of semiconductor equipment and bulldozers, it said.
All three countries saw exports to China and Hong Kong decrease: South Korea by 21.4 percent, Japan by 7.9 percent and Taiwan by 6.7 percent, the report said, adding that Taiwan experienced a smaller decline thanks to a 3.9 percent growth in the export of information technology, network communications and audio-visual products over the first nine months.
However, South Korea and Japan saw across-the-board declines in their exports to China and Hong Kong, it said.
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