Imports From China Hit New Monthly High of NT$2.91 B. in May

Taipei, Aug. 5, 2008 (CENS)--Taiwan's imports from China hit a new monthly high of US$2.91 billion in May, accounting for 13.6% of the island's total imports, according to the statistics released by the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

In the same month Taiwan's exports to China reached US$7.08 billion for a share of 30% of the total exports, which as a result yielded a trade surplus of US$4.17 billion with China in May.

BOFT officials indicated that the growth in imports from China was mainly due to the increasing purchases of fossil fuels, petrochemicals and basic metal, mostly steel and iron, from China, whose prices have steadily climbed globally.

Today China has become an important manufacturing base for electronic items and the related products, which has created considerable demand for more and more sophisticated upstream electronic parts such as ICs, LCD panels, light emitting diode (LED), and printed circuit boards (PCB) from Taiwan, hence helping to boost exports from Taiwan to China.

Due to the soaring international oil prices, Taiwan's petroleum and related products exported to China have risen in value a whopping annual 555.6% in May. Although the world economy has been battered since the beginning of this year, China has been seeing relatively robust growth with strong foreign trade.

In the first five months of the year, Taiwan's foreign trade with China came to US$46.39 billion; of which, exports accounted for US$33.17 billion for an annual growth of 8.5%, and imports US$13.21 billion.