Taiwan's October export orders see ninth consecutive annual gain

Taipei, Nov. 20 (CNA) Taiwan's export orders rose to US$69.37 billion in October, a record high for the month and marking the ninth consecutive year-on-year increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Thursday.

According to MOEA data, export orders climbed 25.1 percent from a year earlier to US$69.37 billion, marking the strongest October performance on record.

In the first 10 months of the year, export orders grew 22.6 percent year-on-year to US$593.74 billion.

The increase was driven largely by tech products and related applications. Electronics orders in October alone soared 35.9 percent year-on-year to a record US$28.41 billion, supported by demand for AI, high-performance computing and cloud services, according to the ministry.

At the same time, ICT orders also hit a new high of US$22.57 billion, up 28.4 percent, while optical instruments rose 2.9 percent.

However, traditional industries underperformed amid cautious market sentiment and stiff overseas competition. Base metal orders fell 10 percent year-on-year to US$1.92 billion, and plastics and rubber orders dropped 9.8 percent to US$1.39 billion, according to the data.

MOEA Department of Statistics head Huang Wei-chieh (黃偉傑) said robust demand for AI-, HPC- and cloud-related applications continued to fuel client restocking, offsetting weakness in traditional sectors.

He noted that the U.S. review of its Section 232 semiconductor investigation prompted some firms to ship early, boosting second-half performance beyond expectations.

By market, orders from the United States rose 32.1 percent to US$25.29 billion in October compared to the same month the previous year, while orders from ASEAN nations surged 42.5 percent to US$14.94 billion. Meanwhile, orders from China and Hong Kong grew 9.8 percent to US$11.66 billion.

For November, the MOEA expects export orders to reach US$66.7 billion-US$68.7 billion, up 27.6-31.4 percent year-on-year.

The share of export orders produced overseas fell 2.1 percentage points to 49.9 percent in October as ICT and electronics firms increased domestic production, the MOEA said.