Ministry of Finance: First-half exports hit $416.6 billion, up 47.1% year-on-year

(CNA, Taipei, July 9) Ministry of Finance officials stated today that exports in the first half of this year reached a record high of $416.6 billion, an increase of 47.1% year-on-year. Furthermore, observing the performance of 11 major export product categories in the second quarter, traditional industries are gradually emerging from the export downturn, and the differentiated structure of total exports is expected to slowly improve.

The Ministry of Finance today released preliminary statistics for June customs import and export trade. In June, exports were $74.83 billion and imports were $62.63 billion, ranking as the third-highest and highest single-month figures respectively. Year-on-year growth rates were 40.3% and 51.8%. After deducting imports from exports, the trade surplus in June was $12.2 billion, an increase of $140 million compared to the same period last year.

Tsai Mei-na, director of the Ministry of Finance's Statistics Department, said that export performance in June remained strong. There are four factors behind 32 consecutive months of positive growth: first, although the global economy has been affected by geopolitical instability in the Middle East, it has not deviated from its growth trajectory so far; second, benefiting from the booming artificial intelligence (AI) market, demand for high-end chips, servers, and key components is strong; third, the stocking cycles for new technology products such as mobile devices are gradually starting; finally, the tight supply and demand in the electronics industry chain has led to an increase in export prices.

Regarding imports, Tsai Mei-na mentioned that they mainly reflect the global division of labor in the AI supply chain, the expansion of export-driven demand, increased procurement by major Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers, and the continued high prices of international raw materials.

Looking back at the export overview for the first half of the year, Tsai Mei-na said that driven by the global AI trend and Taiwan's manufacturing advantages, the technology industry has ushered in a new wave of export prosperity. Total exports in the first half of the year reached a record high for the same period at $416.6 billion, and the year-on-year increase of 47.1% is the second-highest for the same period in history, second only to the 49.2% increase in the first half of 2010.

Tsai Mei-na stated that exports in the second quarter reached $220.93 billion, exceeding the $200 billion mark for the first time, with a year-on-year increase of 43.7%, slightly lower by 0.7 percentage points than the forecast by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics. Among these, electronics and information and communication products saw a year-on-year increase of 56.9%, while other product categories increased by 9.4% year-on-year, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of positive growth. Both the growth rate and the scale of value are the best in the past four years, reflecting that traditional industries are gradually emerging from the export downturn, and the differentiated structure of total exports can also be slowly improved.

Further examination of the 11 major export product categories in June shows 8 increases and 3 decreases. Tsai Mei-na said that, in general, exports of technology products remain strong, while traditional industries continue to move towards stable recovery.

Tsai Mei-na explained that electronic components benefited from strong demand for advanced process chips in the semiconductor industry and the structural supply-demand imbalance and price increases for memory. Exports in June reached $25.39 billion, the second-highest single-month figure, with a year-on-year increase of 32.8%. Information and communication and audiovisual products, due to the continued spread of AI applications, have seen continuous shipments of graphics cards, servers, switches, and routers. Exports in June reached $33.92 billion, the third-highest single-month figure in history, with a year-on-year increase of 72.3%.

Tsai Mei-na said that the overall year-on-year growth rate for information and communication and audiovisual products and electronic components in June reached 52.9%, while other traditional product categories increased by an average of 6.9% compared to the same period last year, marking the fourth consecutive month of positive growth.

Tsai Mei-na analyzed that the best-performing traditional product category was electrical machinery products, with exports in June increasing by 23% year-on-year, mainly due to active infrastructure construction such as data centers and grid upgrades in various countries. Mineral products were boosted by international oil prices, with a year-on-year increase of 20%. Machinery increased by 14.8%, reflecting international competition to expand semiconductor factories. Optical and precision instruments increased by 6.9% year-on-year, benefiting from bright export results for spectrum analyzers and measuring and inspection instruments to South Korea, ASEAN, and China/Hong Kong.

Tsai Mei-na said that basic metal and metal products, and plastic and rubber and their products, saw slight year-on-year decreases of 1.3% and 0.4% respectively in June exports due to the lack of significant improvement in their fundamentals. (Editor: Huang Kuo-lun) 1150709

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