Exports of Taiwan-made Machinery to Challenge New High of US$20 B. in 2011

Taipei, Nov. 17, 2011 (CENS)--Thanks to the cross-Taiwan Strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), Taiwan saw machinery exports hit US$17.1 billion in the first 10 months, up 26% year-on-year and almost equaling the US$17.2 billion for the whole of 2010.

The Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) predicts machinery exports in Taiwan to hit a new high exceeding US$20 billion this year.

Although many European firms are sidelining investments due to the sovereign debt crisis in some European nations, Taiwan's manufacturers of general machinery, machine tools and components can still garner orders worldwide based on their capacity to supply products with high performance-to-price ratios.

But manufacturers of machining centers and plastics injection molding machines have delayed shipments as requested by domestic customers from the consumer electronics and semiconductor sectors, who are impacted by plummeting orders from big American retailers as Wal-Mart and K-Mart, which are fortunately somewhat offset by increased orders from China.

An industry insider says many machine-tool firms, including Tongtai Machine & Tool Co., Hiwin Technologies Corp., Victor Taichung Machinery Works Co., Fu Chun Shin Machinery Manufacture Co., Awea Mechantronic Co., Goodway Machine Corp., Falcon Machine Tools Co. and Yeong Chin Machinery Industries Co., have orders backlogged throughout the end of this year, without even taking into account the rush orders from Japanese and Taiwanese firms in Thailand whose plants are heavily damaged by floods.

TAMI estimates Taiwan's machinery industry will see monthly exports reach between US$1.7 billion and US$1.8 billion in November and December, pushing overall exports to exceed US$20 billion this year, with the overall production value to challenge the historic high of US$30 billion this year.