Taiwan Exports Continue Growth

Taiwan’s exports grew from a year earlier in January on the back of solid global demand, in particular electronic devices, marking the fourth consecutive month that the country’s outbound sales increased on a year-on-year basis, the ministry of finance said Tuesday.

It said that Taiwan’s exports for January rose 7% from a year earlier to $23.74 billion. Strong global demand from international vendors who rushed to raise their inventories ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday offset the impact from the reduced number of working days in the month, in which the six-day holiday started Jan. 27, CNA reported.

In January, Taiwan’s imports rose 8.4% from a year earlier to $20.25 billion, marking the fifth consecutive month in which inbound sales posted a year-on-year increase. In the month, Taiwan reported a trade surplus of $3.5 billion, down $20 million from a year earlier.

Apart from the textile sector, which registered a 7% year-on-year fall in exports in January, all of the major industrial sectors registered year-on-year growth in the month, the MOF said.

Outbound sales of the electronic component sector for January rose 10% from a year earlier to $7.77 billion, a record January high, after semiconductor firms recorded $6.63 billion in exports, up 15.8% from a year earlier as the global semiconductor industry continued to enjoy booming business, the MOF said.

The electronic component sector accounted for 32.7% of Taiwan’s total exports in January, making it the largest exporting sector in the country, the ministry added.

Exports of the base metal industry for January rose 13.7% from a year earlier to $2.24 billion, outbound sales of mineral products jumped 25.1% year-on-year to $1.04 billion, and exports of machinery rose 7.9% from a year earlier to $1.86 billion.