Taiwan's machine tool exports surged 35.5% in first 6 months

Taipei, Aug. 5, 2004 (CENS)--Taiwan exported US$1.01 billion worth of machine tools in the first half of this year, up 35.5% from the same period of last year, according to statistics compiled by the Taiwan Machine Tool Foundation (TMTF).

Of this, exports of metal-cutting machine tools commanded US$757 million, up 39%, and those of metal-forming machine tools accounted for US$260 million, up 27%.

Of various metal-cutting machine tools, machining centers saw the highest annual export growth of 50% in the first half of this year, lathes 46%, electric discharge machines 36%, grinding machines 33%, milling and boring machines 31%, among others.

In terms of metal-forming machine tools, exports of forging, pressing and shearing machines grew by 33% annually in the first half of this year, and the remaining machine models rose by 6%.

In terms of major export outlets for Taiwan-made machine tools, Hong Kong and mainland China ranked first by absorbing US$475 million in the first half of this year, up 30% and commanding 46.7% of the island's total machine tool exports. The U.S. came second with US$77 million, up 31% and accounting for 7.6%. Turkey took the third place with US$57 million, up 114% and accounting for 5.7%.

Other major export outlets for Taiwan-made machine tools in the first half of this year were Thailand, Malaysia, Holland, South Korea, India, Italy, Germany, Japan, Vietnam, Britain, Singapore, Indonesia, South Africa, Canada, and Australia.

The TMTF's statistics also showed Taiwan imported US$895 million worth of machine tools in the first five months of this year, up 169% from the corresponding period of last year. Of this, metal-cutting machine tools totaled US$839 million, up 185%, and metal-forming machine tools commanded US$56 million, up 46%.

TMTF chief executive officer Wang Cheng-ching attributed the substantial growth in imports of machine tools to the increased demand by such high-tech and conventional industries as automobiles, metal products, semiconductors, information technology, electronics, communications, and opto-electronics. Major import items included non-traditional sophisticated machine tools, machining centers, and boring and milling machines.

Japan was Taiwan's largest import source by supplying US$430 million worth of machine tools in the first half of this year, up 97% from one year earlier and accounting for 48.1% of the total imports. The U.S. ranked second with US$342 million, up 509% and accounting for 38.2%. Germany ranked third with US$39 million, up 70% and commanding 4.5%.

Wang predicted Asia's largest producing nations of machine tools, including Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, would see substantial annual growth in production and exports this year. Of them, Japan acquired 474.9 billion Japanese yen worth of orders in the first five months of this year, up 37.4% from the same period of last year; South Korea obtained 672.4 billion Korean won in orders in the same period, up 7.7%.