The nation’s export orders reached an 11-month high of US$30.84 billion last month, dipping a mere 3 percent from the same period last year as the global economy recovers faster than expected, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
“The [latest] data on export orders is exciting,” because of robust demand from China, Japan and other trading partners in Asia, Huang Ji-shih (黃吉實), director of the ministry’s department of statistics, told a media briefing.
Export orders from Japan and ASEAN nations grew for the first time in almost a year last month, 3.56 percent and 8.79 percent respectively, although orders from the US and Europe remained in negative territory, Huang said.
Export orders from China and Hong Kong increased 9.44 percent year-on-year to US$8.26 billion last month, while those from the US dropped 10.6 percent year-on-year to US$6.61 billion and orders from Europe contracted 13.44 percent to US$5.71 billion, the ministry’s report showed.
Electronic products topped the list at US$7.2 billion, down 0.25 percent from last year, followed by telecommunications and precision products that recorded growth of 2.41 percent and 11.84 percent to US$7.7 billion and US$3.06 billion respectively, the report said.
“The economy will recover faster once electronic export orders outperform those of communications and telecommunications products,” Huang said.
Huang said he expected the data to improve further this month and for the rest of the year.
Cheng Cheng-mount (鄭貞茂), head economist at Citigroup Taiwan Inc, echoed the optimistic sentiment, said the bank may raise its GDP forecast for this year.
“The pace of recovery is much stronger than expected,” Cheng said by telephone. “The improvement is industry-wide and will last through the year.”
The economist predicted export orders would grow an extra 5 percent to 10 percent this quarter, compared with last quarter.
Demand for electronic products is likely to drive the growth, while orders for flat panels were expected to slow, Cheng said.
Meanwhile, the industrial production index, a major economic indicator, returned to positive territory for the first time in 12 months, expanding 1.01 percent from a year ago, a separate report showed.
Huang said the manufacturing industry made the biggest contribution, growing 0.99 percent compared with last year.
The petroleum and chemical materials sectors reported a sharp increase in output at 22.2 percent and 24.61 percent respectively, the data showed. The food industry posted 7.36 percent growth, while basic metals advanced 7.63 percent, the report said.
Johnny Chen (陳擎宏), deputy manager of the economics and industry research department at First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), said the index was likely to climb further in the coming months, spurred by year-end holiday demand from abroad.
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