Source： Taiwan Today
By Meg Chang
Taiwan’s foreign trade hit US$43.99 billion in February, up 5.9 percent from a year ago on the back of a lower comparison base and stronger economic conditions worldwide.
Ministry of Finance statistics released March 7 show Taiwan’s exports gained 10.3 percent year on year to US$23.41 billion, while imports inched up 1.3 percent. Net trade surplus tripled to US$283 million over the same period.
Lin Lee-jen, director-general of the MOF Department of Statistics, said the figures were skewed as there were fewer working days in February last year due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
Putting the result in perspective, Lee said Taiwan’s foreign trade totaled US$85.73 billion for the first two months of 2012, down 5.09 percent from last year’s all time high of US$90.33 billion.
“These figures are lower than expected,” she said. “And the 20.8-percent decline in exports of information and communication products is particularly alarming given such items are usually one of the top performers.”
Shipments to Taiwan’s major trading partners all dropped off, Lin said, with those to mainland China and Hong Kong experiencing the sharpest decline at 11.3 percent.
Taiwan’s six major trading partners in the Association for Southeast Asian—the only markets to chalk up growth—posted an overall increase of 5.9 percent. Their share of Taiwan’s total exports also reached an all time high of 18.4 percent.
Despite this year’s lackluster performance, Lin said the MOF is cautiously optimistic about the export outlook based on generally improving sentiment among local manufacturers.
“With the European sovereign debt crisis bottoming out and the U.S. economy on the mend, we expect shipments to begin picking up steam next month,” she said. (JSM)
Write to Meg Chang at meg.chang@mail.gio.gov.tw
