October foreign trade remains stable for Taiwan

2014-11-10

Taiwan’s exports rose 0.7 percent year on year to US$26.9 billion in October, while imports dropped 1.4 percent to US$22.28 billion, according to the Ministry of Finance Nov. 7.

The growth stemmed from strong performances in electronics and transportation equipment offset by a double-digit drop in mineral exports, according to Yeh Maan-tzwu, director-general of MOF Department of Statistics.

“Exports of electronics surged 16.4 percent to the second highest on record, with semiconductor exports hitting a historical level,” she said, adding that transportation equipment also gained 11.2 percent.

Mineral exports sank 24.3 percent amid weak oil prices worldwide, while shipments of chemicals fell 9.5 percent as demands from mainland China softened. Information and communications technology products, rubbers and textiles were also down between 7.5 percent and 8.9 percent.

Mainland China, including Hong Kong, Taiwan’s six major trading partners from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the U.S. were the top three export destinations in that order at 40 percent, 18.7 percent and 11.4 percent.

While shipments to mainland China and the U.S. remained healthy, up 5.5 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively, exports to Europe dropped 12.8 percent and the six ASEAN nations followed suit, down 1.7 percent.

One high point is Taiwan registered a trade surplus of US$50 million with South Korea, the first time in 24 years, as a result of rising electronics exports and decreasing imports of minerals and chemicals.

For the first 10 months of the year, exports rose 3.2 percent to US$261.53 billion, while imports were up 2.8 percent to US$230.58 billion. The accumulated trade surplus increased 6.9 percent to US$30.96 billion.

Yeh said Taiwan’s electronics exports will likely remain strong with the introduction of new mobile devices and increasing popularity of the Internet of Things.

“But uncertainties remain on the horizon for Taiwan’s exporters,” she added, citing declining commodity prices, increasing competition from mainland Chinese petrochemical firms and a weak recovery in Europe.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=223812&CtNode=413)