The nation’s export orders rose 10.5 percent year-on-year to US$38.72 billion last month, boosted by continuing strong demand for electronics products, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
It marked the 12th straight month of year-on-year expansion, ministry data showed.
“The recovering US and European economies stimulated the purchase of Taiwan-made products,” Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) said at a news conference in Taipei.
Last month’s result was in line with the ministry’s forecast that orders would amount to US$38 billion to US$39 billion, the department said.
The US remained Taiwan’s largest market last month, with orders growing 7.7 percent annually to US$10.83 billion, primarily due to robust demand for electronic devices, as well as information and communications technology (ICT) products.
Orders from China and Hong Kong rose 10.7 percent year-on-year to US$9.73 billion on growing shipments of optical products, the ministry said.
Orders from European customers were US$7.25 billion last month, a 23.2 percent surge from a year earlier, which the ministry attributed to rising demand for ICT goods.
By products, orders for ICT shipments expanded 13.9 percent to US$10.89 billion and for electronics grew 4.2 percent to US$9.74 billion, the ministry said in a statement.
Orders for machinery goods increased 12.5 percent to US$1.85 billion from the same period last year, as global customers are more willing to invest in automated equipment amid an improving industry sentiment, the statement showed.
Global orders for petrochemical products grew 9.5 percent year-on-year to US$1.84 billion, while orders for chemicals rose 9.6 percent to US$1.74 billion on strong demand for ethylene glycol.
Basic metals also saw annual growth last month, with orders rising 12.8 percent annually to US$2.26 billion on the back of rising steel prices, the ministry said.
However, the nation’s export orders dropped 4 percent month-on-month from US$40.35 billion in June, statistics showed.
Lin attributed the decline to the seasonal effect, with global demand for mobile phone chips slowing last month.
For the first seven months of the year, export orders amounted US$262.35 billion, up 11.1 percent from the same period last year.
The ministry provided an optimistic outlook for the rest of the year based on its survey of vendors, as several benchmark industries are entering their peak season.
Many international vendors in the ICT industry are expected to place large orders next month as they gear up for new product launches, she added.
The ministry expects export orders for this month would grow 4.1 percent and 6.8 percent from the same period last year.
That would translate to orders of between US$39.5 billion and US$40.5 billion, the ministry said in a statement.