The nation’s export orders last month suffered their sharpest drop since December 2001, accounting for a 5.56 percent year-on-year decline, figures released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed yesterday.
Export orders totaled US$30.41 billion last month, down 4.43 percent from the previous month, while those in the first 10 months totaled US$308.14 billion — an 8.92 percent gain from last year.
“October export orders typically reflect Christmas demand for major retailers in the US and Europe. Judging by the dismal numbers, we can reasonably infer that people over there are having a difficult holiday season,” the ministry’s statistics department director Huang Ji-shih (黃吉實) told a media briefing yesterday.
Cheng Cheng-mount (鄭貞茂), vice president and economist at Citigroup Investment Research, said a drop in US consumption was directly reflected in Taiwan’s export orders, as well as those in China.
“October numbers are bad globally, so I expected the same for Taiwan. The question is whether the economy will deteriorate or improve from now on,” he said yesterday.
This means that the same problem will be compounded in export orders in two countries, he said.
Orders from China, including Hong Kong, formerly the nation’s largest export market, fell for the third month to US$6.74 billion last month, registering a 22.84 percent year-on-year decline and reducing China to Taiwan’s second-largest export market next to the US over the past two months.
Orders from the US slid 6.99 percent year-on-year to US$7.05 billion last month.
Meanwhile, orders from Europe and Japan, the nation’s third and fourth-largest export markets, last month showed minimal increases of 0.65 percent and 2.75 percent from September to US$6.64 billion and US$3.55 billion respectively.
Among major export categories, export orders for precision instruments plummeted 20.48 percent year-on-year to US$2.27 billion, while orders for digital products declined 1.74 percent to US$7.40 billion. Bucking the trend, telecommunications products increased 11.90 percent to US$7.88 billion.
Industrial output also fared dismally last month, dropping 12.55 percent for the largest decline since September 2001. Manufacturing output declined by 13.32 percent, the ministry’s data show.
“The only sectors which showed growth were bicycles and pharmaceuticals. The rest are all negative,” Huang said.
Cheng said further deterioration was more likely than an improvement as the US economy was likely to bottom out in the fourth quarter.
While Citigroup’s GDP forecast for the nation is 3.6 percent this year and 2.8 percent next year, Cheng expects to revise his forecast downward by the end of this month.
“The unemployment figures worsened in October as well. I expect November to go slightly higher, but the dilemma facing the nation is a lack of external as well as internal demand,” Cheng said. “The NT$3,600 shopping vouchers will stimulate the economy, but they will not be enough.”
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday released the first video documenting the submerged sea trials of Taiwan’s indigenous defense submarine prototype, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or Narwhal, showing underwater navigation and the launch of countermeasures. The footage shows the vessel’s first dive, steering and control system tests, and the raising and lowering of the periscope and antenna masts. It offered a rare look at the progress in the submarine’s sea acceptance tests. The Hai Kun carried out its first shallow-water diving trial late last month and has since completed four submerged tests, CSBC said. The newly released video compiles images recorded from Jan. 29 to
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
DETERRENCE EFFORTS: Washington and partners hope demonstrations of force would convince Beijing that military action against Taiwan would carry high costs The US is considering using HMAS Stirling in Western Australia as a forward base to strengthen its naval posture in a potential conflict with China, particularly over Taiwan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. As part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, Washington plans to deploy up to four nuclear-powered submarines at Stirling starting in 2027, providing a base near potential hot spots such as Taiwan and the South China Sea. The move also aims to enhance military integration with Pacific allies under the Australia-UK-US trilateral security partnership, the report said. Currently, US submarines operate from Guam, but the island could
RESTRAINTS: Should China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, China would be excluded from major financial institutions, the bill says The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which states that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude Beijing from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China must be prepared
RSS