Taiwan's Exports Tumble by 34.3% to US$14.85 B. in April

Taipei, May 12, 2009 (CENS)--Taiwan's exports witnessed a sharp annual drop of 34.3% to US$14.85 billion in April and down by US$740 million from a month earlier, according to the statistics released by the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

Lin Li-chien, director of the Department of Statistics under MOF, indicated that Taiwan's exports to the USA dropped a monthly US$270 million in April and to Europe down by US$140 million. In the same month, the exports to the six ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members slightly declined by US$10 million and to China and Hong Kong shrank US$70 million, which would be a positive US$190 million if counting to China only.

During the month Taiwan's exports to China and Hong Kong amounted to US$6.2 billion, with electronics, optical devices, chemicals, plastic & related product, and electric machinery being the top five exports.

In January China and Hong Kong absorbed 29.9% of Taiwan's exports, and the percentage soared to 41.8% in April, quite close to 44% recorded in September of 2007.

In the first four months of the year, the export value experienced a sizable annual drop of 36% or US$31.19 billion to US$55.39 billion, and import value plunged by 45.6% or US$37.5 billion to US$44.77 billion.

In April Taiwan witnessed a trade surplus of US$2.14 billion for an annual growth of US$1.15 billion, and the figure expanded to US$10.62 billion in the first four months, up US$6.31 billion from the corresponding figure of last year.