Taiwan's machine tool exports shot up 34.1% in first 4 months

Taipei, July 5, 2004 (CENS)--Taiwan exported US$640 million worth of machine tools in the first four months of this year, an increase of 34.1% from the corresponding period last year, according to statistics compiled by the Directorate General of Customs under the Ministry of Finance.

Of this, metal-cutting machine tools accounted for US$474 million in the first four months, up 36%, and metal-forming machine tools commanded US$165 million, up 28%.

Of the metal-cutting machine tools, machining centers posted the highest annual export growth of 52% in the first four months, followed by lathes with 42%, electric discharge machines with 32%; and milling and boring machines with 28%, among others.

As to metal-forming machines, exports of stamping, pressing and shearing machines grew by 35%, with the remainder having a growth of 7%.

Hong Kong and mainland China together remained the largest export outlet for Taiwan-made machine tools, absorbing US$298 million worth of the products in the first four months, up 30% from the same period of last year and accounting for 46.7% of Taiwan's total machine tool exports. The U.S. ranked second with US$47 million, up 18% and accounting for 7.4%; and Turkey followed with US$33 million, up 106% and accounting 5.3%. Other major export outlets included Thailand, Malaysia, Holland, South Korea, India, Japan, Vietnam, Italy, Germany, Britain, Singapore, Indonesia, South Africa, Canada, and France.

The customs statistics showed Taiwan imported US$613 million worth of machine tools in the first four months of the year, shooting up 202% from the corresponding period of last year. Of this, metal-cutting machine tools came to US$576 million, up 224% and metal-forming machine tools totaled US$37 million, up 49%.

Wang Cheng-ching, CEO of Taiwan Machine Tool Foundation (TMTF), attributed the growth of machine tool imports in the first four months to the increased demand by both high-tech and conventional industries. Major import items in the like months went to non-conventional machine tools, machining centers, milling machines, and metal-working machines used in high-tech industry.

Of the imported metal-forming machine tools, stamping, pressing and shearing machines grew by 41% in the first four months of the year. Wang attributed the substantial growth in imports of metal-forming machine tools to the fact that domestic conventional industries, including automobile and metal products, have increased procurement of imported products because of the recovery of the overall economy.

In terms of the major import sources, Japan ranked first by supplying US$300 million, or 49%, of Taiwan's total machine tool imports in the first four months of this year, up 121% from the same period of last year. The U.S. ranked second with US$233 million, up 605% and accounting for 38.1% of the total. Germany came in third with US$26 million, up 71% and accounting for 4.3% of the total.

Wang noted major machine-tool manufacturing nations in Asia, including Japan and South Korea, would have good chance to see substantial growth in both production and exports in the second half of this year. Japan snatched orders worth 367.7 billion Japanese yen in the first four months of this year, up 32.9% from the same period of last year. South Korea saw orders amount to 541.9 billion Korean won in the first four months, up 5.1% from one year earlier.

Since the spring of the year, Taiwanese makers of machine tools have seen an increase in orders and received customers' calls for cutting delivery time frame, which indicates the global economy has momentously recovered. Many predict they will receive more orders from at home and abroad, especially the mainland, Southwest Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, for the rest of this year.

Seeing the promising prospects for the machinery industry, Wang called for domestic manufacturers to introduce innovative products and elevate the added value of their products to struggle for larger market shares globally.