Taiwan has delivered strong trade growth since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and its rising weight in international trade and supply chains could go beyond the boost spurred by the pandemic, UBS Group AG North Asia economist William Deng (鄧維慎) said on Thursday.
With exports having expanded 160 percent from before the pandemic level as of April, and shipments having been relatively steady compared with those of its main trade rivals, Taiwan has been one of the top Asian exporters throughout the pandemic, Deng said in a report regarding supply chain reshuffling.
Already edging up in mid-2019 before the COVID-19 shock, Taiwan’s international trade share stepped up further in early 2020, which was sustained into this year, he said.
Pandemic-related production disruptions to other economies and remote work demands might have supported Taiwanese trade, he said.
Although work-from-home demand is no longer a stimulus this year, and most other exporters have returned to normal operations, Taiwan maintained a large share of international trade.
The situation indicates that the country’s strength in global trade and supply chains could stretch beyond the pandemic-related boost, Deng said.
Taiwanese trade held a larger market share in the US in the first quarter than in the same period in 2019, he said.
Among the 557 export items bound for the US, 63 percent recorded gains in market share, and 18 percent posted growth exceeding 1 percentage point in market share, the report said.
Taiwan’s trade and production chain gains are broad-based, covering technology and non-tech spaces, it said.
Nine out of Taiwan’s top 10 export items to the US are from the non-tech sector, such as machine tools and metal products, it added
The top 10 items with a trade weight of more than 1 percent and a market share increase of more than 1 percentage point cover the tech and non-tech spaces evenly, the report said.
In non-tech areas, steel products, electric machines, hand tools and electric equipment — such as electricity control boards and converters — are on the list of top market share gains, it said.
Consumer durables, such as motorcycles, and gymnastics and outdoor equipment, also made the list.
In the tech space, popular items such as integrated circuits, printed circuits and diodes ranked high, the report said.
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