Total trade with Germany last year surpassed US$20 billion for the first time, the German Trade Office Taipei said.
The figure rose to a record US$20.7 billion, up 27.5 percent from US$16.2 billion in 2020, the office said in a statement.
“German-Taiwanese trade relations developed overwhelmingly positively in 2021, defying the [COVID-19] pandemic,” office Executive Director Axel Limberg said in a statement.
Germany last year retained its position as Taiwan’s most important trade partner in Europe, Limberg said.
It is particularly gratifying that imports and exports between Germany and Taiwan rose significantly, indicating that bilateral economic relations are mutually beneficial, he said.
Taiwan’s exports to Germany were US$8.2 billion last year, up 35.4 percent year-on-year, while imports accounted for US$12.5 billion, up 22.8 percent from a year earlier, according to Ministry of Finance data cited by the German Trade Office.
Exports of machinery and electrical equipment totaled US$4.2 billion last year, accounting for about half of all exports, with electronic parts, and information, communication and audio-video products among the most popular items, the data showed.
Machinery and electrical equipment were the top imports from Germany, worth almost US$4.9 billion, with machinery accounting for the biggest share with about 46 percent, the office said.
While overall approved foreign direct investment in Taiwan fell by 18.2 percent last year, German investment increased by 67.3 percent year-on-year to US$252.6 million, the office said, citing Ministry of Economic Affairs data.
Limberg said that technologies from both sides perfectly complement each other, and further expansion in international cooperation would be crucial to shaping key technologies such as Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
The office said that it would host an economic outlook meeting with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and major German companies in Taiwan on Feb. 22, during which they would assess “the current state of the German economy in Taiwan” and discuss the future of the Taiwanese economy, as well as key industries.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
RSS