Rising COVID-19 cases will not affect Taiwan’s trade ties with Germany, because domestic goods were in high demand in the European country last quarter and will remain popular, the German Trade Office Taipei said on Thursday.
Bilateral trade relations would not be affected by a spike in infections in Taiwan, but will flourish for the rest of this year based on trade data, the office said.
Trade volume between Taiwan and Germany increased 4.5 percent year-on-year in the first three months of this year, as bilateral trade ties deepened, despite a slowdown in economic activity amid the pandemic.
Bilateral trade value rose to the equivalent of NT$165 billion (US$5.94 billion), up NT$7 billion from the same period last year, the office said, citing Federal Statistical Office of Germany data.
The German data showed a 4.9 percent rise to NT$78 billion in exports to Taiwan in the first quarter, while imports rose 4.2 percent to NT$87 billion, the office said.
Taiwan outperformed Asian trading rivals Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea in terms of trade with Germany during the January-to-March period, it said.
Among the other three Asian Tigers, only Hong Kong posted positive growth, with German exports to Singapore and South Korea shrinking 8.9 and 11 percent respectively, the office said.
Germany’s imports from South Korea dropped 7 percent, plunged 35.6 percent from Hong Kong and slumped 43.1 percent from Singapore, it said.
The trade data showed that Taiwan was the only one of the four economies to register a trade surplus with Germany, indicating that Taiwanese goods were in high demand in Germany, the office said.
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