Monday November 23, 6:34 PM
Taiwan export orders see first rise in 13 months
Taiwan said Monday that export orders last month posted their first year-on-year hike in 13 months as demand for high-tech products picked up amid a global economic recovery.
Orders in October totalled 31.75 billion US dollars, up 4.41 percent from the same month last year. The figure is the first on-year jump since a 2.82 percent rise in September 2008, the ministry of economics said.
The data could spell light at the end of the tunnel for the trade-dependent Taiwan economy, which was dealt a severe blow by the global financial crisis.
Taiwan reported a contraction in its gross domestic product of 7.54 percent for the second quarter, following a 10.13 percent fall in the previous three months. Third-quarter data will be released on Thursday.
October export orders for information and communications products rose 5.63 percent year on year to 8.33 billion dollars and those of electronic products picked up 4.07 percent to 7.70 billion dollars.
The two sectors accounted for more than 50 percent of the October total.
"Export orders may slide a bit in November as the peak season for electronics and communication products is about to come to an end," said Huang Ji-shih, director of the ministry's statistics department.
"Export orders will likely pick up again in December, when companies usually start placing orders for the Lunar New Year," he said.
Orders from China and Hong Kong rose 19.60 percent from a year earlier to 8.06 billion dollars, the ministry said.
US orders added 0.67 percent to 7.10 billion dollars, while orders from Europe fell 10.19 percent to 5.96 billion dollars.
In the first 10 months of this year, Taiwan's export orders fell 15.80 percent from the same period in 2008 to 259.46 billion dollars.
-- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this story --
|
