Taiwan's export orders expected to hit high in 2017: MOEA

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) Riding the waves of solid global demand at a time when the world's economy is on the path to recovery, Taiwan's export orders for 2017 are expected to hit a new high, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Lin Li-chen (林麗貞), director of the MOEA's Department of Statistics, said that after a strong showing in the first half of this year, Taiwan's export order growth momentum is expected to continue into the second half of the year, a traditional peak season for the high tech industry.

Lin said that a new high for export orders in 2017 is "something for sure", adding that it is possible for this year's figure to top the previous record of US$472.81 billion seen in 2014.

In the first six months of this year, Taiwan's export orders totaled US$223.63 billion, up 11.2 percent from a year earlier after the country's export orders for June posted a year-on-year increase for the 11th consecutive month, the MOEA data showed.

Growth of exports in the first half was the highest level for the same period of a year in the past 17 years, the data indicated.

In June alone, Taiwan's export orders totaled US$40.35 billion, up 13 percent from a year earlier, the highest growth since February, when the increase hit 22 percent, as major sectors recorded double-digit growth that month.

According to the MOEA, the information/communications industry saw its June export orders grow 10.9 percent from a year earlier to US$11.47 billion as international brands launched new notebook computer and tablet computer models to stir up buying, while server and Internet communications firms benefited from continued strong demand.

As for the electronics components sector, export orders growth hit 12.1 percent year-on-year to US$10.39 billion with strong demand for Taiwan's wafers on a contract production basis, integrated circuit packaging and testing services, memory chips and other electronics parts as a result of a specification upgrade of smartphones and development in Internet of Things, automotive electronics and high speed computing, the MOEA said.

It added that optical electronics makers enjoyed a 24.6 percent year-on-year increase in export orders in June, when the figure hit US$2.32 billion due to rising buying in large-sized TV screens, in particular from China and Hong Kong.

As for the base metal industry, export orders totaled US$2.26 billion, up 13.4 percent from a year earlier as buyers from the United States and Europe placed more orders with Taiwanese firms, the MOEA said.

The ministry's data showed that since automation equipment enjoyed strong demand, in particular from China, Hong Kong and the U.S., Taiwan's machinery exporters received orders worth US$2.07 billion in June, up 16.1 percent from a year earlier.

The data also indicated that export orders received by the local plastics/rubber industry in June rose 14.9 percent from a year earlier to US$1.96 billion, while export orders placed with Taiwanese chemical suppliers grew 18.3 percent from a year earlier to US$1.81 billion.

In terms of markets, orders placed by the U.S. in June rose 13.1 percent to US$11.45 billion, while China and Hong Kong placed US$10.35 billion in orders to Taiwanese firms that month, up 17.3 percent from a year earlier, the MOEA said.

The MOEA said that export orders from Europe and Japan rose 13.8 percent and 19.7 percent, respectively, from a year earlier to US$7.16 billion and US$2.5 billion in June, while orders placed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bucked the uptrend, falling 1.9 percent year-on-year to US$4.26 billion.

(By Liao Yu-yang and Frances Huang)

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