Exports last month gained 3.4 percent to US$38.81 billion, ending 12 straight months of decline, thanks to strong demand for technology products related to artificial intelligence (AI), the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The release of new-generation consumer electronic products, notably smartphones, and a low comparison base from the same period last year helped boost exports, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said.
“It is safe to say that exports are coming out of the woods” following a year of inventory adjustments, Tsai told a news briefing.
Photo: CNA
The crucial economic bellwether might lead to no or a minor contraction this month, while helping to stage a healthy recovery in the coming months, she said.
Nevertheless, shipments of electronics, primarily chips, shrank 4.3 percent year-on-year, but should return to positive territory next month, she added.
An earnings conference next week by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) — which counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp, Intel Corp, Advanced Micro Devices and other technology giants among its customers — would shed more light on the state of the industry, Tsai said.
Shipments of information and communication technology (ICT) products surged 59.8 percent to a record US$8.26 billion, underpinning the turnaround in exports and making up 17 percent of overall exports, she said.
Demand for AI-related products accounted for double-digit percentage increases in shipments bound for the US and Europe, where technology firms are aggressively developing and building up AI equipment and solutions despite stubborn inflation, the ministry said.
Shipments to ASEAN markets soared 24.8 percent to US$7.48 billion, making the bloc Taiwan’s second-largest export destination, aided by robust demand for electronics and ICT products, Tsai said, adding that a global supply chain realignment also contributed to the rise.
Exports to China fell 8.8 percent, easing to a single-digit percentage for the first time in 14 months, a positive sign, she said.
Non-tech products also benefited, with exports of chemical and mineral products rising 10.3 percent and 0.9 percent respectively on the back of inventory restocking demand and higher international oil prices, she said.
By contrast, imports fell 12.2 percent to US$28.49 billion, as local firms refrained from buying semiconductor equipment and raw materials used for exports, she said.
That gave Taiwan a trade surplus of US$10.32 billion, more than twice what it was a year earlier, the ministry said.
For the third quarter, exports fell 5.1 percent to US$114.9 billion, while imports dropped 19 percent to US$87.49 billion, beating the government’s forecast in August.
Exports fell 13.8 percent to US$316.98 billion in the first nine months of this year, while imports dropped 19.7 percent to US$263.12 billion, worse than other trade rivals such as South Korea, Japan, Singapore and China.
High comparison bases in the past few years due to the trade effects of COVID-19 accounted for Taiwan’s poor showings and highlight its vulnerability to global technology downcycles, Tsai said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats