Taiwan’s exports last month climbed 18.8 percent year-on-year to a third record high of US$41.46 billion, backed by high demand for electronics used in digital transformation and innovative technology applications, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The demand could also see outbound shipments rise to a new high this month with growth of 12 to 16 percent, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said, adding that exports in May usually fare stronger than in April.
“Global demand for chips has not shown any sign of cooling thus far, while selling prices for non-tech products stayed high, accounting for robust export showings,” Tsai told an online news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Shipments to major trade partners were overall higher, although they lost some momentum due to an economic slowdown in China because of the country’s strict COVID-19 prevention measures, she said.
Exports logged positive cyclical movements in the past 22 months and are moving steadily toward beating the 26-month expansionary cycle seen between November 2010 and December 2012, Tsai said.
Shipments of electronics, mainly semiconductors, spiked 27.5 percent to US$17.21 billion, driven by demand for chips used in smartphones, high-performance computers, laptops and vehicles, a ministry report said.
Exports of information and communication technology products put up a relatively lackluster 10.2 percent increase to US$5.19 billion, as US demand for servers remained sturdy, while demand was more subdued in China and ASEAN markets, Tsai said.
The slowdown could likely be attributed to lockdowns in major Chinese cities, and merits close monitoring, she said.
The retreat is most evident in exports of optical products, which declined 15.6 percent to US$918 million, she added.
Non-tech product categories turned out mostly healthy with year-on-year advances of 4 percent to 60 percent, partly because international fuel prices pushed up selling prices, Tsai said.
Plastic products were the only exception, with a 2.1 percent slip to US$2.37 billion, the report said.
Meanwhile, imports soared 26.7 percent to US$36.55 billion, as agricultural and industrial materials, capital equipment and consumer products posted double-percentage point improvements, the report said.
China’s lockdowns not only affected Taiwan’s exports, but also weighed on imports, Tsai said, as material and component shortages could worsen.
The latest trade data gave Taiwan a trade surplus of US$4.91 billion, shrinking 19 percent from a year earlier owing partly to a strong US dollar.
For the first four months of the year, exports gained 22.3 percent year-on-year to US$162.4 billion, while imports rose 26 percent to US$142 billion, the ministry said.
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in artificial-intelligence (AI) chips, yesterday said that small-volume production of 3-nanometer (nm) chips for a key customer is on track to start by the end of this year, dismissing speculation about delays in producing advanced chips. As Alchip is transitioning from 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer process technology to 3 nanometers, investors and shareholders have been closely monitoring whether the company is navigating through such transition smoothly. “We are proceeding well in [building] this generation [of chips]. It appears to me that no revision will be required. We have achieved success in designing
PROJECTION: KGI Financial said that based on its foreign exchange exposure, a NT$0.1 increase in the New Taiwan dollar would negatively impact it by about NT$1.7 billion KGI Financial Holding Co (凱基金控) yesterday said its life insurance arm has increased hedging and adopted other moves to curb the impact of the local currency’s appreciation on its profitability. “It is difficult to accurately depict the hedging costs, which might vary from 7 percent to 40 percent in a single day,” KGI Life Insurance Co (凱基人壽) told an investors’ conference in Taipei. KGI Life, which underpinned 66 percent of the group’s total net income last year, has elevated hedging to 55 to 60 percent, while using a basket of currencies to manage currency volatility, the insurer said. As different
Taiwanese insurers are facing difficult questions about the damage of recent swings in the New Taiwan dollar. Regulators might have a partial solution: letting firms change how they calculate the value of foreign currency assets. The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is considering allowing insurers to use six-month average exchange rates when they calculate risk-based capital in their semiannual reports, a shift from the current system where insurers use exchange rates on the final day of reporting. The change could ease pressure on the US$1.2 trillion insurance sector, whose huge exposure to foreign assets came into the spotlight earlier this month after a
RSS