Taiwan exports up 3.7% in November, electronics market robust

TAIPEI - Taiwan’s exports rose 3.7% on-year to US$26.68 billion in November, while imports grew 5.1% to US$22.46 billion, the Ministry of Finance reported. Yeh Maan-tzwu, Director-General of the MOF’s Department of Statistics, attributed growth to continued robustness in the electronics and transportation equipment sectors, offset partially by a double-digit drop in mineral exports.

“Electronics exports surged 10.2%, while shipments of optical instruments, including display panels, were up 11%,” she said, adding that basic metals and machinery gained 9.5% and 7.3%, respectively.
However, mineral exports sank 17.1% amid weak oil prices worldwide, with plastic and rubber products down 4.6%. Transportation equipment imports jumped 150% after soaring 470% in the previous month as the local aviation sector continued expansion of its fleet.
Of export destinations, mainland China, including Hong Kong, Taiwan’s six major trading partners from the ASEAN, and the U.S. were the top three, claiming respectively 40.5%, 18.3% and 11.3% of all Taiwan exports.
While shipments to the U.S., Europe and Japan remained healthy, up 11.4%, 3.7% and 3%, respectively, exports to mainland China inched down 0.3%, the first decline following seven consecutive months of gains.
For the first 11 months of the year, total exports rose 3.3% to US$288.2 billion, while imports were up 3% to US$253.03 billion. The accumulated trade surplus increased 5.5% to US$35.17 billion.
Yeh said Taiwan’s annual electronics exports could reach a record US$100 billion with the introduction of new mobile devices and the increasing popularity of the Internet of Things. www.taiwantoday.tw (ATI).