The nation’s exports and imports both regained growth momentum last month as faster 5G deployment by clients abroad benefited local semiconductor firms and drove them to buy capital equipment, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Exports increased 3.3 percent to US$28.58 billion, while imports rose 5.8 percent to US$24.3 billion, the ministry said, adding that the figures were a sign that the economic slowdown might have come to an end, with outbound shipments expected to improve.
“The latest data suggest the turning point is arriving and exports are coming out of the tunnel,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing in Taipei.
Tsai said that the 3.3 percent increase in exports was more than her estimate of 1.5 to 2.5 percent, thanks to strong demand for high-performance chips to be used in 5G smartphones and artificial intelligence, as well as for Internet of Things applications.
The recovery would soon spread to other critical components as evidenced by the world’s healthy manufacturing purchasing activity and a rapid decline in inventory gluts, Tsai said, forecasting that exports could grow 1 to 2 percent year-on-year this month.
Shipments of electronics, chiefly semiconductors, rose 10.1 percent to US$10.59 billion, while exports of information and communications products soared 22.7 percent to US4.02 billion, the ministry’s monthly report showed.
Suppliers of camera lenses and other optical products also fared well with 8.6 percent growth from a year earlier, it said.
Better sales of mobile phones and smart wearbles by global technology brands also supported the increase in exports, Tsai said.
However, business improvement failed to extend to non-technology sectors.
Shipments of mineral products dropped 27.9 percent to US$945 million due to tepid demand, weather-linked delays and maintenance inspections, Tsai said.
Exports of chemical, plastic and metal products also remained soft, although the retreat tapered off, she said.
“Non-technology sectors continued to take a hit from the trade war, which has failed to achieve a breakthrough,” Tsai said, referring to a dispute between the US and China.
Local technology firms remained resilient, aided by manufacturing base relocations and order transfers, benefits that would continue next year, she said.
That helped explain why local firms aggressively increased capital equipment purchases by 66.3 percent to US4.8 billion last month, she added.
Semiconductor firms underpinned the buying spree, spending 1.56 times more on capital equipment than a year earlier, the report found.
“New orders must account for capital equipment purchases or firms would seek heavy depreciation costs,” Tsai said.
Taiwan registered a trade surplus of US$4.28 billion for last month, a 9.1 percent decline from a year earlier, and in the first 11 months of the year, exports totaled US$299.85 billion, while imports totaled to US$258.86 billion, the ministry said.
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