Taiwan’s export orders fall for fifth straight month, hit by 45.9 per cent slump in mainland China and Hong Kong
- Taiwan’s export orders totalled US$47.51 billion last month, down by 19.3 per cent year on year
- Orders to Taiwan from mainland China and Hong Kong declined 45.9 per cent over the same period
Export orders to global tech hardware supplier Taiwan fell for a fifth straight month in January, the government said on Monday, tracking a drop in industrial output and a jump in the number of jobs on furlough in the manufacturing sector.
The triple run of downbeat data points to a continued slump in demand for Taiwan’s signature factory-made exports, from semiconductor chips to finished gear such as PCs, smartphones and servers, analysts said.
“After surging global electronics demand during the pandemic, the sector has seen orders plummet in recent months,” said Frederic Neumann, chief Asia economist with HSBC in Hong Kong.
“New orders for both consumer and industrial electronics worldwide continue to contract at a rapid pace,” Neumann said. “Taiwan’s economy is especially exposed to the vagaries of the global electronics sector given its key role in global tech supply chains.”
Orders to Taiwan from mainland China and Hong Kong, one of the island’s biggest buyers by region, fell by 45.9 per cent year on year in January, while orders from the US to Taiwan declined 14.7 per cent, official data showed. Orders from Europe gained 18.3 per cent over the month.