January Exports Hit New Highs at Taiwan's Export Processing Zones

January saw Taiwan's 10 export processing zones overseen by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) generate some NT$32.9 billion (US$1.06 billion) in export revenue, increasing 16 percent year on year to hit a new high, according to the ministry's Export Processing Zone Administration.

Based on the upbeat January result, the administration projects the annual revenue of the 10 zones to also reach a new high. In 2014, the 10 zones, located primarily in Taichung (central Taiwan), Kaohsiung (southern Taiwan), and Pingdong (southernmost Taiwan) generated a combined NT$444.2 billion (US$14.32 billion) in export revenue, surging 18 percent to hit an all-time high.

The previous export peak achieved by the 10 zones for January was set in 2013, at NT$29.8 billion (US$961.29 million).

Among the 10 zones, the Nanzih District in Kaohsiung is the biggest, alone generating export revenue of NT$280.90 billion (US$9.06 billion) in 2014, up 18 percent year on year.

Tenants at the Nanzih zone are mostly semiconductor, liquid-crystal display, and optoelectronics manufacturers. Driving such bullish exports of this zone is the banner work by particularly IC-chip assemblers as Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE), NXP Semiconductors Taiwan Ltd., and Orient Semiconductor Ltd., which posted median 30 percent export growth in January 2015 relative to the same month of last year.

The administration says its efforts to develop clusters of IC packaging and test industry have borne fruit. The Nanzih zone, for instance, now has IC packaging and test industry that accounts for nearly 90 percent of the capital invested at the park. ASE plans to open three more factories at the park for around NT$100 billion (US$3.22 billion), with one under construction and the other two scheduled to be constructed sometime in 2015 and later, which are expected to create close to 10,000 jobs in four to five years.

(KL)