Taiwan's Export Orders in Nov. Total US$43.51 Bn. to Fall Short of Govt. Expectation

Taiwan's export orders received in November totaled only US$43.51 billion, up 6% year-on-year (YoY) but slipping from October and falling short of governmental expectation of higher value amid simmering iPhone 6 sales globally, according to the latest statistics compiled by Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

MOEA attributes the disappointing result in the month to three main factors: a comparatively high base in October when the local transportation vehicle and equipment sector received an  order of US$400 million to drive  export order value; a widespread shipment slowdown in the semiconductor and IC industry after the high season for downstream electronic manufacturers ended; and a significant decline in value of export orders landed by local petrochemical and rubber and plastic makers, due largely to steadily dropping international oil prices and temporarily reduced capacity due to periodic maintenance of production facilities.

On growth slowdowns in export orders garnered by local semiconductor and IC makers, MOEA commented that the industry is unlikely to regain  significant momentum until next March, primarily because operators generally reduce output to adjust inventory in December, coupled with less work days during next January and February for the Chinese New Year holidays.

Compared to other industries that mostly saw export orders drop in November, the ICT (information and communication technology) industry, however, received even more orders than in October, indicated by the officially publicized directional movement index for calculating value of export orders received by the industry, which increased to 54.7, shows MOEA's statistics.

With growth slowdown of export orders in November, MOEA has  cut its estimate for 2014 to US$470 billion, still an all-time high. (SC)

Directional Movement Indexes for Taiwan's Export Orders Received in Nov. by Product Category
Product Category	Index
ICT products	54.7
Electronic devices	45.1
Precision instrument	45.7
Base metals	55.2
Machinery	41.8
Chemicals	50.6
Plastic and rubber products	45.2
Total	46.8

Source: MOEA

Note: 50-and-higher index denotes expected uptrend in value of export orders.