2021 Q1-Q2 orders could exceed USD300 billion amid record-breaking May: MOEA

Benefiting from the strong momentum of electronic information communication and rising prices for raw material markets, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced that its export orders for May were marked at US$52.29 billion.

Market watchers expect June to perform better than that in May. The orders received in the first six months will exceed US$300 billion, while expectations indicate this would be the first time order value will be above the US$300 billion mark in the first half of a year.

The MOEA announced on Monday that the export orders for May were US$52.29 billion, a year-on-year increase of 34.5% for 15 consecutive months of positive growth. Among them, the electronics industry, which is the main exporter, showed a slow season. The order value of electronic products received in May was US$15.81 billion, which increased by 40.3%. Information and communications products accounted for US$13.57 billion, an annual increase of 4.2%. In May, these two product categories hit a record high in the same month.

Huang Yu-ling, Director of Statistics at MOEA, analyzed that the demand for 5G, high-performance computing, and other emerging technology applications continues to grow, coupled with long-distance business opportunities, all factors are supporting electronic and information communication product demand. Specifically in IC design, foundry, chip pathways, printed circuit boards, memory cards, graphics cards, servers, storage devices, Netcom products, etc.

In addition, despite the gradual lifting of lockdowns and border restrictions in various countries, the economic effect continues, which in turn drives the demand for terminal products such as laptops, flat panels, TVs, and monitors. The price of large-size panels continues to rise, and orders for automotive panels are also rising. Optical equipment. The value of orders received in May was at US$2.58 billion, an annual increase of 41%, and it has been growing for 12 consecutive months.

Under the global economic recovery, production has rebounded strongly. Huang Yuling said that major countries have successively expanded infrastructure construction and boosted demand for steel products. The rising raw material prices have also driven up steel prices. The order amount for base metals reached 3.21 billion US dollars, which was the same month in the previous year. A new high, an annual increase of 95.3%, the largest increase since the data were available in the Republic of China in 1973.

The orders received for machinery and plastic rubber products also hit new highs in the same month of the previous year, at USD$2.35 billion and US$2.7 billion respectively, and showed double-digit growth, 55.1%, and 80.7% respectively.

According to the main order areas, the US, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Europe, and ASEAN continue to record new highs in the same month in May. Most of them are electronic products. The US received US$15.29 billion, an increase of 28.1%; Mainland China and Hong Kong at US$14.22 billion, an annual increase of 40%; Europe at US$9.52 billion, an annual increase of 20.9%; ASEAN region at US$5.14 billion, an annual increase of 48.3%.

The cumulative amount of foreign orders received in the first five months of this year was USD$256.19 billion, a record high for the same period in the past year, with an annual growth rate of 41%, the largest increase since the same period in 100 years.

However, the overall amount of orders received in May decreased by 4.8% month-on-month. Huang explained that the main products affected in April were laptops and mobile phones; the former was due to mobile phones entering the replacement period of new and old products in April, which was the peak of mobile phone orders; while the latter, laptops were due to lack of materials. As a result of order delays, manufacturers will be more cautious in receiving orders.

In the first half of the year, it is estimated that the order value received exceeded USD$ 300 billion and could reach USD$310.2 billion.

Huang said that although some electronics factories previously reduced production due to their employees getting infected, the export orders are related to international demand. The economies of various countries have slowly returned to the right track, so they are optimistic about the order situation next month.

Huang said that many manufacturers also have factories overseas. If domestic production lines take into account the epidemic and reduce the load, manufacturers can adjust through overseas production lines. Once the epidemic is stable in the future, production can also be accelerated, which has little impact on the momentum of orders.