Taiwan’s exports to Chinese mainland, Hong Kong fall 9.2 per cent in October amid weak demand
- Taiwan’s exports totalled US$39.93 billion in October, down by 0.5 per cent year on year, but up 6 per cent on September
- Orders from Taiwan’s biggest buyer, mainland China and Hong Kong, reached US$14.72 billion last month, down 9.2 per cent year on year
Exports from global hi-tech hardware centre Taiwan to its largest trade partner – mainland China and Hong Kong – fell by 9.2 per cent in October on weakening sales to the massive consumer market and to Chinese factories that ship finished goods overseas.
Taiwanese exporters shipped just US$14.72 billion worth of goods last month to the two territories, the Ministry of Finance in Taipei said, from a total export value of US$39.93 billion from shipments worldwide.
“It’s a reflection of slow-growing demand,” said Tony Phoo, a Taipei-based economist with Standard Chartered Bank. “Despite all of the effort to diversify away from China, China still remains the world’s largest producer. It produces not only for the global economy, but for its own economy as well.”
Mainland China, which bought 28.21 per cent of Taiwan’s total exports last year, is cooling economically, with consumption having slowed under Beijing’s zero-Covid controls and because of increases in prices of staples such as pork.
A global economic slowdown, meanwhile, threatens to undercut exports from the so-called world’s factory, meaning less need for hi-tech components of the type supplied by Taiwan.