Machinery exports resumed growth last month after four consecutive months of annual declines, indicating the industry has gradually regained momentum, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry said yesterday.
Machinery exports were worth US$2.63 billion last month, up 10.6 percent from US$2.38 billion a year earlier, the association said in a report.
On a monthly basis, exports increased 3.1 percent from US$2.55 billion, it said.
Photo: CNA
In the first six months of this year, exports totaled US$14.18 billion, down 1.3 percent from US$14.37 billion in the same period last year, but the pace of decline had slowed from the 3.7 percent drop in the first five months of this year, association data showed.
Amid growing business opportunities related to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing devices, demand for electronics equipment is poised to continue driving the machinery sector, the association said.
Nevertheless, unfavorable foreign exchange rates remains a key challenge for Taiwanese manufacturers in securing orders, it said, as the New Taiwan dollar has depreciated 5.97 percent against the US dollar since the beginning of the year, while the won declined 9.66 percent and the yen 22.99 percent.
Taiwan’s major machinery exports comprise mainly inspection and testing equipment, electronic equipment and machine tools, the association said.
In the January-to-June period, overseas shipments of electronics equipment increased 9 percent to US$2.39 billion and inspection and testing equipment rose 5.2 percent to US$2.33 billion, while machine tool exports fell 15.5 percent annually to US$1.08 billion due to factors related to geopolitical conflicts and foreign exchange rates, it said.
The US and China were the two largest buyers of Taiwanese machinery goods in the first six months, at US$3.41 billion and US$3.38 billion respectively, followed by Japan, with purchases totaling US$1.05 billion, association data showed.
Purchases from the US, China and Japan accounted for 24.1 percent, 23.8 percent and 7.4 percent respectively of Taiwan’s total machinery exports in the first six months of this year, the data showed.
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