Rising oil prices and increasing competition from Asian rivals are painting a challenging outlook for Taiwan's trade account for the year ahead.
A survey by the Taipei City Importers and Exporters Association found that while satisfaction with the current trading environment among Taiwan companies was higher than last year, concerns about the future were weighing on sentiment going forward.
A poll of more than 600 of its members indicated that 50.7 per cent of companies were satisfied with Taiwan's foreign trade environment compared with 49.4 per cent last year, the association said.
The small increase in confidence came despite three years of continuous decline in Taiwan's trade surplus.
This year's first-half surplus figure of US$750 million was the lowest on record, with the 6.6 per cent growth in exports for the first half substantially below the double-digit growth experienced by Taiwan's Asian competitors.
Imports, meanwhile, grew 11.2 per cent for the same period, with that strong growth accounting for most of the optimism among Taiwanese trading companies.