Export orders last month expanded 25.1 percent year-on-year to US$69.37 billion, the ninth straight month of double-digit percentage growth and the second-highest for a single month, driven by strong demand in the artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service industries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Last month’s export orders — an indicator of product and component shipments to overseas markets over the following one to three months — decreased 1.2 percent from the previous month, but were still within the ministry’s estimate of US$68.6 billion to US$70.6 billion.
In the first 10 months of the year, export orders grew 22.6 percent to US$593.74 billion, the largest for the period, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
Export orders this month are projected to reach US$66.7 billion to US$68.7 billion, or a year-on-year increase of 27.6 percent to 31.4 percent, it said.
Order momentum is expected to remain strong through the end of this year, supported by robust demand for information and communications technology products, and electronic components, Department of Statistics Director-General Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑) said.
Export orders for the whole year could hit a new high, surpassing US$674.1 billion in 2021, if orders this month and next month average US$40.2 billion — a scenario that is highly possible, Huang said.
It is also highly likely that the annual total could exceed US$700 billion if orders this month and next month average US$53.2 billion, he added.
Ministry data showed export orders for electronic components last month surged 35.9 percent year-on-year, as AI and emerging technologies continued to drive demand for chip production, design and packaging services, while orders for information and communications technology products rose 28.4 percent on the back of strong momentum in server and Internet communications businesses.
Machinery orders were also 16 percent higher than a year earlier, driven by increased demand for semiconductor production equipment, the ministry said.
Weakness persisted in some traditional industries, with export orders for plastic and rubber products falling by 9.8 percent, base metals dropping by 10 percent due to US tariffs and oversupply from China, the ministry added.
Chemical product orders rebounded, rising 4.4 percent, it said.
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