Exports last month spiked 14.2 percent to US$43.32 billion, the second-highest increase on record and the 25th consecutive month of gains, driven by global demand for electronics used in high-performance computing and vehicles, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The ministry expects the trend to sustain this month and beyond, although the pace could slow due to inventory corrections for laptops, smartphones and other consumer electronics.
“The July results proved stronger than expected despite rising fears over economic uncertainty,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said, adding that a high sales season in the West and stabilized COVID-19 infections in China helped produce the robust showing.
Photo: CNA
Tsai said she predicts an increase of 8 to 12 percent in exports, with an unprecedented volume of up to US$44.2 billion for this month.
Exports of electronics last month expanded 15.6 percent year-on-year to US$16.96 billion, led substantially by semiconductors, which generated US$15.52 billion, the ministry’s monthly report showed.
Shipments of information and communications technology devices posted a hefty 13.3 percent advance to US$5.89 billion, but exports of optical devices took a hit from worsening inventory adjustments due to sluggish sales of notebook computers, Tsai said.
Exports of non-tech products also showed mixed results for last month, the report showed.
Most product categories delivered positive growth of 4.7 percent to 22.3 percent, the report said, due to continued recovery in the global economy, although the shadow of a recession escalates.
Shipments of plastic products contracted 7.1 percent from a year earlier, as demand for COVID-19 prevention gear weakened, it said.
Exports to major partners rose with shipments to the US, Europe and ASEAN markets reaching new highs, Tsai said, adding that eased COVID-19 restrictions in China allowed shipments to the market to grow 6.1 percent, reversing a 15.8 percent decline in June.
Imports last month expanded by 19.4 percent year-on-year to US$38.29 billion, as local firms purchased materials and components to meet export needs ahead of the summer holiday season, Tsai said.
Imports of agricultural and industrial raw materials soared by 21.4 percent to US$27.23 billion, while capital equipment increased by 16.2 percent to US$6.78 billion, the report showed.
The latest trade data showed a trade surplus of US$5.03 billion for last month, a 14.5 percent retreat from a year earlier, dragged by higher import prices, it said.
In the first seven months of this year, exports rose by 18.4 percent to US$289.97 billion, while imports grew by 23.9 percent to US$257.25 billion, as the nation should benefit from another year of strong exports, Tsai said.
Separately, Tsai said China’s economic measures against Taiwan are unlikely to have a major effect on trade between the two economies, given how closely they are intertwined.
Her remarks came after China last week slapped Taiwan with trade curbs on some fish and fruit imports and natural sand exports following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
However, agricultural exports accounted for only 0.6 percent of exports last year, DBS Group Holdings Ltd said, while China’s natural sand exports to Taiwan amounted to about US$1 million — small compared with the bigger trade picture.
“Right now Taiwan’s and China’s electronics industries are highly dependent on each other,” Tsai said, adding that Taiwan is China’s largest source of imported integrated circuits.
“We expect very little chance of China imposing stricter economic sanctions on Taiwanese businesses due to our highly reliant economic relations,” she said.
Exports were largely unaffected the last time Beijing significantly increased pressure on Taiwan, in 1995 and 1996, even as financial markets took a hit, she said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is