Taiwan foreign trade up 2.56% on back of electronics

TAIPEI - Taiwan’s foreign trade gained 2.56% on-year to US$49.36 billion in September on the back of the recovering global economy, according to the Ministry of Finance. September exports rose 4.7% from last year to US$26.43 billion, while imports inched up 0.2% to US$22.93 billion. Net trade surplus surged 49.1% to US$3.5 billion.

“This result marked the eighth consecutive month of growth for exports, with semiconductors accounting for 72.27% of total gains,” said Yeh Maan-tzwu, Director-General of the MOF Department of Statistics. Electronics remained Taiwan’s top export item, gaining 13.7% to the second-highest on record at US$8.89 billion, or 33.6% of all shipments.
Basic metals, electrical equipment, machinery, optical instruments and transportation equipment all performed well, growing at between 1.4% and 6.9% for the month. Mainland China, including Hong Kong, remained the top destination for Taiwan’s exports, accounting for 38.9% of outgoing shipments at US$10.29 billion.
Taiwan’s six major trading partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were second at 18.5%, followed by the U.S. at 10.9%, Europe at 9.1%  and Japan at 7%.
For the first nine months of the year, exports gained 3.5% to US$234.65 billion, mirrored by imports, up 3.2% to US$208.3 billion. The accumulated trade surplus increased 6% to US$26.35 billion.
Separately, the International Monetary Fund adjusted its forecast for Taiwan’s 2014 economic growth to 3.5%, up 0.4% from projections made in April. In its World Economic Outlook released on Otober 7, the IMF said it expects Taiwan to outperform Hong Kong and Singapore, both at 3%, but to remain behind South Korea at 3.7%. www.taiwantoday.tw  (ATI).