News
August export growth slows to 2%
By ECCT staff writers, MOF
Taiwan’s exports in August expanded by 2% year-on-year to US$40.34 billion while total imports rose by 3.5% from a year earlier to US$37.35 billion. According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Finance, with the exception of electronic components (listed by the MOF as parts of electronic products), exports contracted for most product categories, including information, communication and audio-visual products, base metals, machinery, chemicals and plastics.
Shipments of electronic components rose 12% to US$17.05 billion, with semiconductor exports expanding by 14.3%, on the back of demand from 5G, data centres, cloud computing, automotive and Internet-of-Things applications, according to the MOF. Exports of information, communication and audio-visual products fell by 1.6% from a year earlier, which was the first monthly decline in two years, while flat-panel exports plunged 35.7%, which the MOF attributed to a drop in demand linked to remote working and online learning.
Broken down by region, exports to China declined by 9.9% while exports to North America and Europe rose by 2.8% and 2.6% respectively. Exports to ASEAN markets increased by 17.6%.
The growth rate of imports also fell 3.5% to US$37.35 billion last month. Capital equipment imports shrank 2.2% as local firms turned cautious about capacity expansion.
For the first eight months of the year, cumulative exports are up 16.2% year-on-year, reaching US$330.32 billion, while imports have risen 20.9% to US$294.63 billion, according to MOF data.
