Taiwan's exports fall by record 42 per cent in December

Jan 7, 2009, 10:04 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan's exports plunged by 41.9 per cent in December, the biggest decline in more than five years, due mainly to global slowdown and financial turmoil, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.

'The amount of exports in December stood at 13.64 billion US dollars, the smallest since October 2003, and a reduction of 9.84 billion dollars or 41.9 per cent compared with the same month last year,' the ministry said in a press statement.

Citing a sharp drop in external demand due to the global downturn and the financial tsunami, the ministry noted that it was the fourth consecutive month Taiwan had registered negative export growth in December.

The semiconductor and electronics industry suffered the hardest hit, with exports slumping by 2.49 billion US dollars or 43.4 per cent from the same period last year, the ministry said.

Total imports also plunged in December to 11.78 billion US dollars, the lowest amount since November 2003 and a reduction of 9.48 billion US dollars, or 44.6 per cent, compared with the same month last year.

December was also the third consecutive month Taiwan had seen an import decline, the ministry said.

But the island was still able to enjoy a trade surplus of 1.86 billion US dollars, it noted.

Between January and December last year, total exports amounted to 255.66 billion US dollars, a small increase of 8.98 billion dollars or 3.6 per cent, compared with the same period of 2007.

Imports stood at 240.82 billion dollars, up 21.57 billion dollars or 9.8 per cent over that of 2007. The total surplus amounted to 14.83 billion dollars, a whopping drop of 12.59 billion dollars, or 45.9 per cent, compared with the same period of 2007, the ministry said.