The nation’s exports hit a record high for the third consecutive month last month, thanks to strong global demand for high-tech products such as smartphones and tablet computers, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Global commodity and oil prices, which remain high, also helped boost Taiwan’s total export value, the ministry said.
Outbound shipments grew 9.5 percent from a year earlier to US$27.88 billion last month, slower than the 24.6 percent increase registered in April, the ministry’s data showed. Last month’s exports were 2 percent higher than April’s US$27.32 billion, the data showed.
“The continuing strong momentum of Asian economies led Taiwan’s exports to remain at the strongest level,” Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), director of the statistics department, said at a media briefing.
Robust demand for smartphones and tablets made by Taiwanese companies such as HTC Corp (宏達電), Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) and Acer Inc (宏碁) was behind the increase of exports in information and communications technology (ICT) products last month, while price hikes in global commodities helped boost exports of plastics and chemicals and textiles, Lin said.
Exports of ICT products rose to a historic high of US$1.99 billion last month, up 74.8 percent from a year earlier, while exports of metals and machinery also hit a record high at US$2.75 billion and US$1.92 billion respectively, the ministry’s data showed.
That means exports to the US hit a record high of US3.44 billion last month, Lin said, adding that exports to ASEAN also rose to a new high of US$4.66 billion, while exports to China including Hong Kong totaled US11.2 billion, the second-largest amount in history.
The current food scare in Taiwan would not influence exports in the near term, as related products account for less than 0.1 percent of total exports, Lin said.
Cheng Cheng-mount (鄭貞茂), chief economist at Citigroup in Taipei, said although the growth of exports last month beat market expectations, the figure fell to less than 10 percent single digit for the first time since October 2009.
However, exports may maintain double-digit growth comfortably throughout the year amid recovering global demand, the launch of new products and the dissipation of supply chain bottlenecks for technology products, Cheng said.
Imports rose 19.3 percent last month from a year earlier to US$26.65 billion, marking the largest amount on record, with capital goods imports rising 21 percent to stand at US$4.3 billion, the ministry’s data showed.
The sharp rebound in capital goods imports suggest that local producers have not cut back on their capital expenditures, reflecting continuing positive manufacturing confidence that will help support the overall employment outlook into the second half of this year, Tony Phoo (符銘財), a Taipei-based economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said yesterday.
As imports grew faster than exports, the nation’s trade surplus fell by 60.9 percent year-on-year to US$1.22 billion last month. That brought the trade surplus for the first five months to US$8.71 billion, down 17.8 percent from a year earlier, which may drag on net trade contribution to GDP growth in the second quarter, Phoo said.
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
RSS