Taiwan foreign trade up 2.56 percent in September

2014-10-09

Taiwan’s foreign trade gained 2.56 percent year on year to US$49.36 billion in September on the back of the recovering global economy, according to the Ministry of Finance Oct. 7.

September exports rose 4.7 percent from last year to US$26.43 billion, while imports inched up 0.2 percent to US$22.93 billion. Net trade surplus surged 49.1 percent to US$3.5 billion.

“This result marked the eighth consecutive month of growth for exports, with semiconductors accounting for 72.27 percent of total gains,” said Yeh Maan-tzwu, director-general of the MOF Department of Statistics.

Electronics remained Taiwan’s top export item, gaining 13.7 percent to the second highest on record of US$8.89 billion, or 33.6 percent of shipments.

Basic metals, electrical equipment, machinery, optical instrument and transportation equipment all performed well, growing at between 1.4 percent and 6.9 percent for the month.

Rubber and plastic products were down 9.2 percent from a year ago, as were minerals, chemicals, information and telecommunication products, and textiles, down between 1.2 percent and 5.1 percent.

“The good news is that exports increased 6.7 percent in the third quarter,” Yeh said. “This figure is higher than the 1 percent and 2.9 percent registered in the previous two quarters, and also tops our forecast of 5.32 percent.”

Mainland China, including Hong Kong, remained the top destination for Taiwan’s exports, accounting for 38.9 percent of outgoing shipments at US$10.29 billion.

Taiwan’s six major trading partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were second at 18.5 percent, followed by the U.S. at 10.9 percent, Europe at 9.1 percent and Japan at 7 percent.

For the first nine months of the year, exports gained 3.5 percent to US$234.65 billion, mirrored by imports, up 3.2 percent to US$208.3 billion. The accumulated trade surplus increased 6 percent to US$26.35 billion.

Yeh said Taiwan’s exports will likely remain strong with the advent of holiday seasons in Europe, the U.S. and mainland China. “Ongoing introduction of new mobile devices and increasing popularity of the Internet of Things will also create additional business opportunities for Taiwan firms.”

Separately, the International Monetary Fund adjusted its forecast for Taiwan’s 2014 economic growth to 3.5 percent, up 0.4 of a percentage point from projections made in April.

In its World Economic Outlook released Oct. 7, the IMF expects Taiwan to outperform Hong Kong and Singapore, both at 3 percent, but remain behind South Korea at 3.7 percent.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=222647&CtNode=413)