Taiwan's machine tool exports up 14.7% to US$751 M. in first half

Taipei, Oct. 9, 2003 (CENS)--Taiwan's exports of machine tools amounted to US$751 million in the first half of this year, up 14.7% from the same period of last year, according to statistics compiled by the Directorate General of Customs under the Ministry of Finance.

Thanks to the increased demand of the global machinery market, Taiwan has seen export growth for all categories of machinery in the first half of this year. Of this, exports of metal-cutting machine tools amounted to US$546 million in the first six months of the year, up 14% from one year earlier; and those of metal-forming machine tools reached US$250 million, up 17%.

Of the metal-cutting machine tools, exports of electric discharge machines posted an annual growth of 20%, machining centers rose by 14%, and other kinds of machine tools also enjoyed a substantial export growth.

Of the metal-forming machine tools, stamping, pressing and shearing machines grew by 15% and others shot up 24%.

In terms of the export outlets for Taiwan-made machine tools, Hong Kong and mainland China took the lead absorbing US$366 million of Taiwan's machine tool exports in the first half of this year, up 22% from the same period of last year and accounting for 48.8% of the overall exports.

The U.S. ranked second with US$59 million, accounting for 7.9% of the overall exports and growing 1% from the same period of last year. Thailand followed with a 4.6% share and an annual growth of 72%. Other major outlets for the domestically made machine tools in the first half of this year, in descending order, were Turkey, Malaysia, Italy, Vietnam, Japan, Holland, Germany, South Korea, and Britain.

On another front, Taiwan imported US$333 million worth of machine tools in the first half of this year, up 10% from the same period of last year. Imports of metal-cutting machine tools amounted to US$294 million, up 9% from the same period of last year, and those of metal-forming machine tools reached US$38 million, up 24%.

C.C. Wang, vice president of the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry, attributed the growth in imports of machine tools to the remarkable recovery of domestic conventional industries. Wang said domestic manufacturers are coming back to buy such processing machines as machining centers, milling machines, grinding machines, and gear-cutting machines.

Imports of stamping, pressing and shearing machines grew by 31% annually in the first half of this year while other metal-forming machines showed an annual decline of 11% in the same comparison period.

Wang said the import statistics show that the demand for domestic conventional industries for imported machine tools by domestic conventional industries has risen significantly, but such high-tech industries as semiconductor, information technology, electronics, communications, and optoelectronics have shown slackened demand for imported machine tools.