Taiwan May Suffer Negative Growth in Export Orders in December

Taipei, Dec. 22, 2011 (CENS)--The value of export orders received by Taiwan's manufacturers and traders reached US$36.65 billion in November, for annual growth of 2.54%, the lowest in 26 months; and the growth is expected to turn negative in December due mainly to the influence of the European debt crisis, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

M N. Tsai, deputy director of the Statistics Department of MOEA, indicated that if the export orders fall in December, it would be the first monthly drop since October of 2009.

In November, orders from the Unites States saw a sharp annual rise of 14.47% to reach US$8.92 billion; those from China edged up 0.14% to US$9.2 billion, with the growth hitting a 29-month low; and orders from Europe up inched up 1.02% to US$7.1 billion.

As for orders from Japan, the value tumbled by 21.14% to US$3.19 billion, a new low of its kind since May of 2009. By contrast, the orders from the six member states of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) presented an annual growth of 12.18% to US$3.77 billion.

During the month, export orders for machinery and related products surged 13.11% to US$1.74 billion, and those for ICT (information & communication technology) products rose by 1.1% to US$9.34 billion.

In the first 11 months, total export orders received amounted to US$399.82 billion, rising 8.02% from the corresponding figure of a year earlier. MOEA estimated that the value for the full year would hit a record high of US$436 billion, presenting a projected annual growth of 7%.