Taiwan ranked 16th among the world’s economies in merchandise trade last year, its highest ranking in 16 years, due in part to a higher ranking for imports, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.
Taiwan had US$827.9 billion in total merchandise trade last year, lifting it one notch in the rankings from a year earlier, the ministry said in a report, citing WTO data.
Among the four traditional Asian Tigers with high-growth economies, Taiwan’s total trade last year trailed that of Hong Kong (in sixth place), South Korea (eighth) and Singapore (15th), the report said.
World merchandise exports totaled US$22.3 trillion last year, an increase of 26.3 percent from the previous year, the WTO’s latest global merchandise trade data showed.
The ministry attributed the growth to the global recovery and higher demand.
Major world economies posted higher merchandise exports and imports than before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, it said.
The nation’s US$446.4 billion in merchandise exports accounted for 2 percent of global exports, ranking it 16th in the world, down from 15th in 2020, while its US$381.5 billion in merchandise imports accounted for 1.7 percent of the global total, ranking it 17th worldwide, up from 18th in 2020, the report said.
China exported US$3.4 trillion in goods last year, making it the world’s biggest exporting country with a 15.1 percent share of global exports.
It was followed by the US (7.9 percent), Germany (7.3 percent), the Netherlands (3.8 percent), Japan (3.4 percent) and Hong Kong (3.0 percent).
South Korea, Taiwan’s main competitor in the global trade market, reported US$644 billion in merchandise exports, accounting for 2.9 percent of world merchandise exports and ranking seventh worldwide, it showed.
The world’s top five importing countries last year were the US, China, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands.
The report also looked at how global trade has evolved over the past decade and China’s increasing export prominence.
China has been the world’s largest exporter since 2009, “benefiting from its domination of manufacturing supply chains and participating in regional economic and trade integration,” it said.
From 2011 to last year, China’s share of global exports rose 4.7 percentage points, compared with Hong Kong’s 0.5 percentage points and Taiwan’s 0.3 percentage points.
Japan and Germany’s share of exports during the same period fell 1.1 and 0.7 percentage points respectively, and export shares of the US, Singapore and South Korea edged lower by 0.2, 0.1 and 0.1 percentage points respectively, the report said.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS