Taiwan’s Export Orders Hit 22-Month Low of US$36.7B. in August

Taipei, Sept. 23, 2011 (CENS)--Impacted by the European debt and the U.S. fiscal crisis, export orders received by Taiwan’s manufacturers and traders dropped to US$36.7 billion in August, with annual growth falling to 5.26%, a new low in 22 months, according to the statistics from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), with the figure being -4.47% if based on the New Taiwan dollar, for the third consecutive monthly negative growth.

In August orders from the United States grew a year-on-year 9%, the first single-digit growth in 10 months; and those from Europe shrank to 8.1%, in contrast to erstwhile annual growths of over 20% from the two regions.

Export orders for machinery showed the highest annual rise of 30.8% and those for information technology (IT) and telecommunication products grew 9.88%.

In August the export order value index was 57.7 and the value in September is expected to improve due mainly to the coming Christmas and New Year shopping season.