Taiwan’s machinery exports last month fell 18 percent year-on-year, dropping for a 15th straight month as the local industry faces challenges such as a weak global economy and unfavorable foreign exchange rates, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry said on Wednesday.
Machinery exports — comprising inspection and testing of equipment, electronic equipment and machine tools — totaled US$2.35 billion last month, down from US$2.86 billion a year earlier, data compiled by the group showed.
On a monthly basis, machinery exports declined 4.3 percent from US$2.45 billion, the data showed.
Photo: CNA
This correlated with the decline in the revenue of the nation’s leading machinery maker, Hiwin Technologies Co (上銀), which on Monday reported that consolidated sales last month fell 5.22 percent year-on-year to a nine-month low of NT$2 billion (US$62 million).
Cumulative revenue in the first 10 months of the year decreased 19.19 percent from a year earlier to NT$20.88 billion, Hiwin said.
The association said that a poor global macroeconomic environment continued to weigh on Taiwan’s machinery industry, with last month’s annual decline in exports expanding from the previous month’s 5.1 percent fall.
“The reduced overseas shipments showed that the manufacturing sector remained conservative about the economy and was cautious about investing in equipment,” the association said in a statement.
Exports of machine tools last month fell 24.4 percent from a year earlier, down for nine consecutive months, while overseas shipments of electronic equipment increased 1.3 percent compared with the same period last year, up for a second straight month and signaling a gradual recovery in the semiconductor industry, it said.
In the first 10 months of this year, machinery exports slid 17.2 percent year-on-year to US$24.39 billion, following a 17.1 percent fall in the first nine months, the data showed.
China was the largest buyer of Taiwanese machinery in the first 10 months at US$5.79 billion, which accounted for 23.7 percent of total exports, the association said.
The US ranked second, with purchases totaling US$5.74 billion for a 23.5 percent share of Taiwanese exports, and Japan was third, with purchases totaling US$1.95 billion and accounting for 8 percent of the total, it said.
As global competition for orders is fierce, the foreign exchange rate has become a key factor affecting Taiwanese firms’ ability to attract orders, it said.
The government should keep a close eye on the exchange rates of the Japanese yen, the South Korean won and the Chinese yuan, as these countries are Taiwan’s main competitors, it said.
As of early this month, the NT dollar had depreciated 5.78 percent against the US dollar, while the won had declined 6.79 percent, the yuan 6.09 percent and the yen 15.09 percent, the association said.
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