Taiwan's Export Value Declines 5.9% to US$26.4B in September

Taiwan's export value reached US$26.4 billion in September, down 5.9% from US$28.1 billion of the previous month, yet up  4.7% year on year, according to the statistics released by Taiwan's  Ministry of Finance (MOF).

M.T. Yeh, director of the Department of Statistics under MOF, attributes the monthly fall of export value in September to slowing markets in the U.S. and Europe and drops in transshipment of minerals.

In the same month Taiwan's imports came to US$22.93 billion, down 4.4% from a month earlier, but up 0.2% from a year earlier. During the month the imports of capital equipment slightly dropped 1.2% or US$40 million from the previous year to US$2.97 billion, with machinery showing the largest fall of 8% or US$130 million.

In Q3 the export value stood at US$81.28 billion for a 6.7% year-on-year growth and higher than the predicted US$80.23 billion by US$1.1 billion. The annual growth was much higher than the 1% seen in Q1 and 2.9% in Q2. In the same quarter, the import of capital equipment surged 13.2% YoY to US$9.2 billion.

In Jan.-Sept., Taiwan's export value totaled US$234.65 billion for an annual growth of 3.5%. Among the exports, electronic products boasted the highest annual growth of 14% and the corresponding percentage of basic metal & related products and machines stood at 4%-7%. However, the exports of optical equipment, ICT products, and minerals were relatively weak.

In the same period the import value amounted to US$208.3 billion, up 3.2% YoY. Among the imports, consumer goods grew the most by 9.6% with mobile phones and cars being two major imports; and the import of semiconductor facilities totaling US$11.01 billion.

It's noteworthy that in September, the import of mobile phones surged 69.2% to US$130 million largely due to the introduction of the Apple iPhone 6. (JL)