Exports last month surged 35.1 percent year-on-year to US$36.65 billion, the second-highest level in history, as demand for electronics remained strong, while a low base meant that non-technology products posted faster growth, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The improving global economy accounted for the impressive showing that is likely to extend into the second half of the year with the arrival of the high sales season, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told an online news conference in Taipei.
“‘Hot’ is the most appropriate word to characterize the state of exports,” Tsai said, forecasting an upswing of 29 to 33 percent for this month year-on-year.
Photo: CNA
In the second quarter, exports grew 37.4 percent year-on-year to US$1.09 billion, while imports rose 36.4 percent to US$915.3 million, both beating last month’s forecasts by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
That suggests that the nation’s export-focused economy is likely to emerge from the domestic COVID-19 outbreak unscathed, despite a sharp decline in consumer activity.
Outbound shipments of electronic products last month grew 29.8 percent to a record US$14.51 billion, as demand for chips hit a new peak, Tsai said.
Exports of optical products, including flat panels and camera lenses, rose 29.5 percent to US$1.12 billion, data showed.
Smartphone camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) earlier this week said that its sales would pick up this month after an 18.51 percent year-on-year fall last month due to the slow season and the loss of major client Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
Shipments of plastic, base metal, chemical and mineral products registered steeper growth of 46.6 to 87.4 percent, as local firms benefited from increased infrastructure spending by the US and other nations, Tsai said, adding that a low base last year also lent support.
Exports to China, ASEAN, Japan, the US and Europe all grew by double-digit percentage points as vaccination programs enabled the world to gradually shake off the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Imports last month surged 42.3 percent to US$31.51 billion, giving Taiwan a trade surplus of US$5.1 billion, data showed.
Imports of agricultural and industrial materials grew 51.8 percent to US$21.95 billion, while imports of capital equipment increased 24.5 percent to US$5.5 million, the ministry said, adding that local technology firms are expanding their capacity to meet demand.
In the first six months of the year, exports advanced 31 percent year-on-year to US$206.91 billion, while imports expanded 28.6 percent to US$175.1 billion, the ministry said, while adding that uncertainty remains due to the spread of more transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2.
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (better known as Foxconn) ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose 60 places to reach No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc. at 348th, Pegatron Corp. at 461st, CPC Corp., Taiwan at 494th and Wistron Corp. at 496th. According to Fortune, the world’s
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
DIVERSIFYING: Taiwanese investors are reassessing their preference for US dollar assets and moving toward Europe amid a global shift away from the greenback Taiwanese investors are reassessing their long-held preference for US-dollar assets, shifting their bets to Europe in the latest move by global investors away from the greenback. Taiwanese funds holding European assets have seen an influx of investments recently, pushing their combined value to NT$13.7 billion (US$461 million) as of the end of last month, the highest since 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Over the first half of this year, Taiwanese investors have also poured NT$14.1 billion into Europe-focused funds based overseas, bringing total assets up to NT$134.8 billion, according to data from the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association (SITCA),
RSS