Taiwan's commercial service exports grow 5.2% in 2013

Taipei, May 5 (CNA) Taiwan's exports of commercial services in 2013 amounted to US$51.4 billion, a 5.2 percent growth from the previous year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Monday.

Exports of computing information and financial services registered the highest growth rates of 76.4 percent and 29.2 percent, respectively, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the value of global commercial services exports rose 5.5 percent to US$4.6 trillion in 2013, with the U.S. ranked as the world's largest exporter, totaling US$662.1 billion in exports of commercial services, representing a 5 percent year-on-year growth.

The U.S. was followed by the United Kingdom and Germany, which saw their exports of commercial services at US$290 billion and US$286.8 billion, respectively, according to data released in April by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Taiwan registered US$54.1 billion in exports of commercial services, a year-on-year increase of 5.2 percent, which gave it a ranking of 26th globally.

According to a breakdown of exports of world commercial services in 2013 by principal services items, about 26.9 percent of all service exports were other commercial services, followed by travel services at 25.4 percent and transportation services at 19.5 percent.

The U.S. and Japan led the world and Asia in the area of research, development and innovation. In 2013, U.S. exports of commercial services through trademarks and patents reached US$129.9 billion, accounting for 41.7 percent of the world's total. Meanwhile, Japan was the largest exporter in this area, exporting US$31.4 billion-worth of services through trademarks and patents, or 10.1 percent of the global total.

South Korea was Asia's largest exporter of construction services, with a total export value of US$19.1 billion. Singapore was the largest exporter of transport services in the region, registering US$43.3 billion.

Taiwan's exports of services were mainly in the travel and other services categories. Its exports of computing information and financial services saw the highest growth rates of 76.4 percent and 29.2 percent, respectively, according to the MOEA.

However, Taiwan was a major importer of trademarks and patents totaling US$3.8 billion, which resulted in a trade deficit of US$2.8 billion in this area for the country, showing its heavy reliance on imports of key techniques from foreign countries.

(By Huang Chia-wen and Evelyn Kao)ENDITEM/J