As crude oil prices rise sharply this year due to the war in Ukraine, the value of Taiwan’s oil imports surged by 75.6 percent to US$11.9 billion in the first five months of this year compared with the same period last year, the Ministry of Finance said in a report on Thursday.
The import value is expected to reach from US$28 billion to NT$31 billion by the end of the year, the highest in eight years, the ministry said.
Taiwan is almost entirely dependent on imports for its oil supply, the ministry said, adding that the import volume was stable from 2012 to 2019, at above 300 million barrels a year, while the import value fluctuated with changes in international oil prices.
Photo: Hung Chen-hung, Taipei Times
Taiwan last year imported 282.88 million barrels of oil, up 6.6 percent from a year earlier, while the import value rose 59 percent to US$19.9 billion, as the reopening of major economies boosted crude oil prices, the ministry said.
That was in contrast to 2020, when the nation imported 265.26 million barrels of oil, down 18 percent from a year earlier, while the import value plunged 41.5 percent to US$12.5 billion, the lowest in 18 years, after responses to the spread of COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the global economy and severely dented oil demand and prices, the ministry said.
Oil imports this year have extended momentum from last year, as the war in Ukraine drove oil prices to more than US$100 per barrel, it said.
The nation imported 121.86 million barrels of oil in the first five months, up 10.9 percent from a year earlier, at average prices of US$97.80 per barrel, the ministry said.
Most of the nation’s oil imports came from the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia accounting for 34.5 percent and Kuwait contributing 20.1 percent in the first five months, while those from the US comprised 21.1 percent of the total during the first five months thanks to an increase in shale oil imports, it said.
Taiwan’s exports of refined petroleum products also have a high correlation with oil prices, the ministry said. In 2013, exports of such products reached US$22.9 billion, but dropped in subsequent years, with the value falling to US$5.7 billion in 2020, the lowest in 17 years, it said.
Exports of refined products last year increased 68.8 percent from a year earlier to US$9.7 billion, and increased 100.5 percent to US$6.5 billion in the first five months of this year, of which diesel exports accounted for 55 percent of the total and gasoline products comprised 20 percent, the ministry said.
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
RSS