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Taiwan's Exports up 10th Straight Month to US$26.68B. in November

2014/12/12 | By Judy Li

Taiwan's exports rose an annual 3.7% to US$26.681 billion in November, the 10th consecutive monthly positive rise; and imports went up 5.1% to US$22.464 billion, according to the statistics released by Taiwan's Ministry of Finance (MOF).

MOF attributes the export rise to the sizable growth of 10.2% of electronic exports including ICs, diodes, storage media, and solar cells. In contrast, the exports of minerals & related products, optical devices, and ICT items were weaker. As of end of November, the export of minerals & related products amounted to US$19.23 billion, down 11% year on year.

In November the import rise was due mainly to the purchases of new planes by airlines, resulting in the import value of capital equipment of US$3.09 billion with transportation facilities surging 150% or US$160 million despite a sizable fall of 23.4% in semiconductor equipment.

In the first 11 months the island's exports totaled US$288.2 billion for annual growth of 3.3%, with the 2014 value expected to reach US$314.63 billion with projected growth of 3.01%. As for imports, the value in the first 11 months rose 3% to US$253.03 billion, resulting in trade surplus of US$35.17 billion, up US$1.85 billion year-on-year.

In the same period the exports of electronic products came to US$91.56 billion, exceeding US$88.12 billion of the products for the full year. This year the export value of electronic products is very likely to hit record high of over US$100 billion.

In November Taiwan's exports to China edged down 0.3% to US$10.82 billion, the first negative growth in eight months, with the percentage turning positive 3.7% in the first 11 months.

In Jan.-Nov., the exports to the U.S. climbed 6.4%, to Europe up 4.4%, to Japan up 4.2%, to Asia up 3.2% and to six ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members up 2%.

It's noteworthy that in the first 11 months the exports of metal bolts & nuts and camera lenses & mobile phones both hit record highs of their kinds, with the former's export value of US$3.35 billion and US$1.43 billion for the latter. (JL)

Items with Record High Export Value in First 11 Months
Item

Export value (US$B)

Annual growth (%)

Metal blots & nuts

3.68

10.5

Lenses

1.43

65.0

ICs

66.138

15.1

DRAM

6.896

30.1

Storage media

6.054

14.2

Solar cells

2.85

16.4

Diode

3.826

11.1

Sedans

1.337

18.9

Portable computers

0.684

43.4

Source: MOF