Taiwan's February exports rise for 28th straight month, hit new high

Taipei, March 9 (CNA) Taiwan's exports rose significantly in February from a year earlier, hitting a new high for the month and marking the 28th straight month of year-on-year increases amid booming AI-related sales, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Monday.

Taiwan's exports rose 20.6 percent from a year earlier to US$49.8 billion in February, while imports grew 6.8 percent to US$37.03 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of US$12.77 billion, according to data compiled by the MOF.

That figure, however, was 24.3 percent lower than exports of US$65.77 billion in January.

For the first two months of the year, exports totaled US$115.57 billion, up 44.5 percent over the same period last year, while imports rose 32.5 percent to US$83.91 billion, the data showed.

Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜), director-general of the MOF's Department of Statistics, said the lower numbers for February compared to January were primarily due to there being fewer working days on account of the Lunar New Year and 228 Peace Memorial Day holidays.

In the January-February period, the 44.5 percent export growth was the highest for that period in 16 years, driven primarily by global investment in AI infrastructure and related components, Tsai said.

The electronic components industry generated US$40.34 billion in exports in January and February, up 41.9 percent from a year earlier, while information, communication and audio-visual products rose 81.5 percent to US$48.22 billion.

Together, these two industries accounted for 76.6 percent of Taiwan's total exports during the two-month period, with a value of US$88.56 billion, up around 61 percent from a year earlier, Tsai said.

Among other industries, exports of electrical products rose 20.3 percent in the first two months of the year, while machinery rose 20.1 percent, basic metals increased 8.5 percent, chemicals rose 5.8 percent, plastics and rubber decreased by 2.4 percent, while textiles dropped 5.3 percent.

By country and region

As for export destinations, Tsai said sales to the United States in the first two months of the year rose 83 percent to US$37.02 billion, representing about half of the overall export growth and 32 percent of total exports during that period.

Among other locations, sales to the ASEAN market surged 47.5 percent to US$23.58 billion, accounting for 20.4 percent of total exports, Tsai said.

Meanwhile, exports to Europe rose 67.3 percent to US$8.73 billion, while exports to Japan grew 28.9 percent to US$5.5 billion.

According to Tsai, exports to China and Hong Kong rose 25.4 percent to US$28.12 billion in January and February, marking one of the rare periods of growth to that market in the past five years.

At the same time, however, China and Hong Kong accounted for only 24.3 percent of Taiwan's total exports during that period, hitting its lowest level in almost 25 years, Tsai said.