Export orders rise for 4th straight month in June

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) On the back of solid global demand for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence applications, Taiwan's export orders rose more than 3 percent from a year earlier in June, marking the fourth consecutive month of year-on-year growth, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Monday.

Data compiled by the MOEA showed the country's export orders rose 3.1 percent from a year earlier to US$45.56 billion after a 7.0 percent year-on-year increase in May.

Benefiting from strong demand for AI applications, high performance computing devices and cloud services, Taiwan's export orders totaled US$141.54 billion in the second quarter, up 6.9 percent from a year earlier, the data indicated.

In the first half of the year, export orders hit US$274.86 billion, up 2.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the MOEA.

Tech industries

In June, the information and communications industry generated US$12.74 billion in export orders, up 3.6 percent from a year earlier, as the AI boom pushed up orders placed by foreign buyers for servers, while a decline in orders for smartphones offset growth in the entire industry, the MOEA said.

The electronic components industry received a boost from growing demand for chips provided by pure play foundry operators as the popularity of AI and HPC developments continued to grow and saw export orders rise 6.3 percent from a year earlier to US$15.54 billion in June, the MOEA added.

However, IC designers reported a year-on-year decline in export orders in June, according to the MOEA.

Also in June, the optical equipment industry posted US$1.79 billion in export orders, up 5.8 percent from a year earlier as semiconductor suppliers on the global market were keen to expand production by adding optical testing and measuring equipment, the MOEA said.

Old economy sector

In addition to the tech sector, major industries in the old economy sector recorded a year-on-year increases in exports as inventories fell to healthy levels, the ministry added.

The base metal industry reported US$2.10 billion in export orders in June, up 2.5 percent from a year earlier, largely because demand for stainless steel items and copper foils increased, the MOEA said.

The machinery industry generated US$1.67 billion in export orders in June, up 3.4 percent from a year earlier as semiconductor suppliers worldwide raised their investments by purchasing equipment to boost capacity, the ministry added.

Export orders received by the plastics and rubber industry rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier to US$1.60 billion in June as foreign clients rebuilt inventories and product prices recovered, the MOEA said.

Exports placed with the chemical industry also rose 9.5 percent from a year earlier to US$1.60 billion in June on the back of a spike in international crude oil prices, the MOEA added.

By country/region

The United States placed orders valued at US$14.79 billion with suppliers in Taiwan in June, up 3.7 percent from a year earlier, ahead of China and Hong Kong (US$10.25 billion, up 3.5 percent), the ASEAN bloc (US$6.82 billion, up 0.2 percent), Europe (US$6.54 billion, up 6.3 percent), and Japan (US$2.29 billion, down 9.2 percent).