Exports last month fell 19.1 percent from a year earlier to US$35.2 billion, contracting for the seventh straight month, as demand for almost all products remained tepid without any sign of recovery in the near term, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The key economic gauge might register a drop of up to 20 percent this month and remain down through the third quarter, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said.
“Taiwan’s exports remain in a tunnel and might not see the light at the other end until the fourth quarter,” Tsai told a news conference, citing the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).
Photo: CNA
International businesses are generally remaining cautious because their inventories have not yet returned to a healthy level, she said, adding that reports of rush orders are sporadic and not driven by a meaningful and sustained recovery.
Shipments of electronics — particularly chips, passive components, printed circuit boards and others — fell 14.6 percent to US$15.57 billion, as consumers worldwide cut spending on technology products to cope with inflation, she said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the sole supplier of chips used in Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Monday posted revenue of US$16.56 billion for last quarter, missing its target of US$16.7 billion to US$17.5 billion, she said.
TSMC’s sales data, its worst in four years, largely reflected Taiwan’s export trajectory, although the company fared better than peers and other sectors, Tsai said.
Exports of information and communications technology products, another mainstay category, shrank 15.8 percent after shipments to the US declined for the first time since a global supply realignment, she said.
Non-tech products finished worse, with declines of more than 20 percent, she said.
Shipments of mineral products proved the only exception with a 4.9 percent increase, she added.
Imports fell 20.1 percent to US$30.98 billion, giving Taiwan a trade surplus of US$4.22 billion, although that figure represented a 10.7 percent drop year-on-year, the ministry said.
That change was due to local firms turning conservative about buying capital equipment, as well as industrial and agricultural materials used for exports, Tsai said.
For the first quarter, exports contracted 19.2 percent to US$97.75 billion, while imports sank 15.8 percent to US$88.84 billion, both worse than 15.43 and 13 percent the DGBAS predicted in February, Tsai said.
The agency would likely trim export showings for this quarter as well, when it updates growth figures next month, she said.
The global market appears to need more time to digest excessive inventory, while any benefit of China’s reopening late last year is not yet evident, Tsai said.
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