Exchange loss impeding machinery industry's profits this year

The Taiwan Machinery Industry Association has warned that the government should address the impact of exchange rates on the machinery industry, which has led to lowered profits due to exchange loss.

The export value of Taiwan's machinery in May was US$2,915 billion, an annual growth of 27.3%, which is a yearly increase for nine consecutive months. In Taiwan dollars, that would be NTD$81,662 billion, lower than the value of exports in March of this year at NTD$81,917 billion.

The Taiwan Machinery Industry Association released a brief report on importing and exporting machinery and equipment this Wednesday. The export of machinery in May was US$2,915 billion, an increase of 10.6% from the US$2,634 billion in April and an increase of 27.3% from the export value of US$2,291 billion in May last year.

The association pointed out the latest result is the continuation of nine consecutive months of annual growth since September last year and the double-digit annual growth of exports for five straight months, showing that Taiwan's machinery industry is amid a resurgence.

However, if priced in New Taiwan dollars, the export value in May was only at NTD$81,662 billion, which was lower than the NT$D81,917 billion value in March this year. The association pointed out that the strong appreciation of the New Taiwan Dollar this year has impeded machinery suppliers' ability to profit.

Observing the distribution of the export value of the top 10 mechanical products in May, almost all of them have grown substantially. Among them, the export of electronic equipment is US$431 million is at the top, accounting for 14.8%, with an annual growth of 47.1%; the export of inspection and measuring equipment is US$370 million, accounting for 12.7 %, ranked second with an annual growth rate of 8.6%.