Taiwan was the largest supplier of semiconductors and electric bicycles to the EU in the first nine months of this year, indicating that these two Taiwanese products have become very competitive in the EU market, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Tuesday.
According to data compiled by the Department of Statistics, Taiwan’s semiconductor exporters had a 20.8 percent share of the EU market over the nine-month period, beating Malaysia’s 18.5 percent and China’s 13.4 percent, the ministry said.
Taiwan’s semiconductor market share in the EU increased 2.1 percentage points from 18.7 percent for the whole of last year, driven by growing demand for automotive electronics and high-performance computing devices, the data showed.
Photo: Reuters
Israel places fourth with a 9.5 percent share of the EU semiconductor market, followed by the US, which had a 7.9 percent share, the ministry said.
The COVID-19 pandemic and a growing awareness of the need to protect the environment, along with government subsidies, have prompted more people in the EU to change their commuting habits, pushing up demand for electric bikes, the ministry said.
In the first nine months of this year, Taiwan’s electric bike suppliers had a 53.1 percent share of the EU market, the ministry said, adding that Switzerland was a distant second with a 15.6 percent share, ahead of Vietnam’s 12.3 percent and China’s 9 percent.
In the first 11 months of this year, Taiwan’s exports to the EU totaled US$32.2 billion, up 11.6 percent from a year earlier, making the EU the fourth-largest buyer of goods from Taiwan, it said.
Taiwan’s exports to the EU fell 4.9 percent from US$24.1 billion to US$22.9 billion from 2019 to 2020, reversing a 9.8 percent year-on-year increase in 2018, due to the bloc’s protection measures against steel imports, escalating tensions between the US and China and concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, when COVID-19 fears eased last year and demand for tech gadgets grew, Taiwan’s exports to the EU jumped 38.9 percent from a year earlier to US$31.8 billion, the ministry said.
The annual drop in growth for Taiwan’s exports to the EU in the first 11 months of this year was due to a high comparison base during the same period last year, geopolitical tensions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and high inflation, which caused demand from end users to decline, it said.
During the 11-month period, Germany bought US$8.17 billion worth of goods from Taiwan, accounting for 25.3 percent of Taiwan’s exports to the EU and making it the largest buyer from the bloc, ahead of the Netherlands with a 25.1 percent share and Italy with a 8.4 percent share, the ministry said.
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