Exports last month surged 38.7 percent year-on-year to US$34.96 billion, the second-highest value in history, as local firms benefited from an across-the-board increase in demand, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
A pickup in economic activity around the world also lent support to inventory building for tech and non-tech products, pushing up their selling prices, during a historically slow season, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a news conference in Taipei.
“Exports could stay above the US$30 billion mark for this month, or an increase of 25 to 31 percent from a year earlier,” Tsai said, adding that material, component and capacity shortages could persist until next year, based on the guidance of major tech firms.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan is home to the world’s leading contract makers of electronics used in smartphones, personal computers, TVs, vehicles, as well as artificial intelligence and Internet of Things applications. The second quarter is usually a low season for technology brands to digest inventory before the launch of next-generation products in the fall.
Shipments of electronics spiked 38.6 percent to US$13.51 billion, propelled by a 34.9 percent increase in semiconductors, a 44.1 percent bump in LEDs, a 35.2 percent pickup in capacitors and a 10.6 percent growth in printed circuit boards, the ministry’s report showed.
Exports of information and communications technology devices expanded 35.9 percent to US$4.71 billion on the back of demand for personal computers and accessories, data storage devices, routers, switches and related products, it said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of companies and organizations, while 5G wireless communication and other new technologies are gaining momentum, Tsai said.
The boom extended to non-tech sectors, with chemicals, minerals, textiles, base metals and plastics reporting sweeping comebacks, with growth ranging from 27 percent to 128.8 percent, the ministry said.
Shipments of transportation tools grew 68.5 percent, while electrical products soared 33.1 percent, it added.
Warming global economic activities and a low base last year accounted for the impressive showings, it said.
Meanwhile, imports jumped 26.4 percent to US$28.79 billion, the ministry said.
Imports of capital equipment rose 39.2 percent from a year earlier, while industrial and agricultural raw materials saw an advance of 27.7 percent, it said.
The latest trade figures gave Taiwan a trade surplus of US$6.18 billion, more than doubling the year-ago level, it said.
For the first four months of the year, exports increased 28 percent to US$132.91 billion, while imports expanded 22.4 percent to US$112.36 billion, it said.
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
Taiwan is attracting a growing number of foreign jobseekers as companies increasingly recruit overseas talent to ease labor shortages and expand global reach, recruitment platform 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) said yesterday. More than 40,000 foreign nationals searched for jobs in Taiwan through the platform last year, a 28 percent increase from a year earlier, the company said. Malaysians accounted for the largest share of overseas jobseekers at 12.2 percent, followed by Indonesians at 11.9 percent and Vietnamese at 10.8 percent. Indonesian applicants surged more than 50 percent year-on-year, while Vietnamese jobseekers rose by more than 30 percent. Applicants from the
RSS