Taipei, March 8 (CNA) Taiwan’s exports rose more than 30 percent from a year earlier in February, marking the 16th consecutive month of a year-on-year increase, with the United States as the largest buyer in the month, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
Data compiled by the MOF showed the country’s exports rose 31.5 percent from a year earlier to hit US$41.31 billion in February, beating the ministry’s earlier forecast of US$36.5 billion to US$37.7 billion and a 16-20 percent year-on-year increase.
Among the major buyers, the U.S. purchased US$11.77 billion in Taiwanese goods in February, accounting for 28.5 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales, ahead of China and Hong Kong, which bought US$11.72 billion worth of merchandise from Taiwan, representing 28.4 percent of the total.
It was the first time in 24 years that the U.S. has replaced China and Hong Kong to become Taiwan’s largest buyer.
Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Statistics, said the strong showing in Taiwan’s exports in February reflected the growing popularity of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence applications and high-performance computing devices.
Tsai said foreign buyers also rushed to make their purchases ahead of schedule to build up inventories amid concerns over the Trump administration’s tariff policy.
She said the increased number of working days in February, compared with the corresponding month of last year, when the Lunar New Year holiday occurred, led all of the major industries to report year-on-year growth last month.
Among the major industries, the information communications and video/audio industry reported the highest growth of 65.5 percent in February with exports hitting US$14.07 billion, while the electronics component industry posted US$14.44 billion in exports, up 24.6 percent from a year earlier, the MOF said.
In addition, optoelectronics and precision equipment makers reported US$881 million in exports in February, up 14.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the MOF.
In the old economy sector, exports generated by the base metal, machinery, mineral items and plastics/rubber industries rose 16.5 percent, 14.0 percent, 22.4 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively, from a year earlier to reach US$2.20 billion, US$1.70 billion, US$1.50 billion and US$1.44 billion in February, the MOF’s data showed.
Commenting on the United States becoming the largest buyer in February, Tsai said that besides American purchasers stocking up in response to Trump possibly imposing tariffs on Taiwan’s exports, an escalating trade war between the U.S. and China had prompted many Taiwanese exporters to diversify their markets, which helped the U.S. rise to the top of the client list.
Tsai said the strong buying from the U.S. also came in the wake of solid demand for AI applications and a restructuring of the global supply chain.
But she said as the gap between the U.S. and China/Hong Kong in terms of their portions in Taiwan’s exports was small, it remains to be seen whether the United States will remain Taiwan’s top export market.
As for imports, in February, they totaled US$34.76 billion, up 47.8 percent from a year earlier, which helped to reduce Taiwan’s trade surplus to US$6.55 billion, down 17.1 percent from a year earlier.
Looking at the first two months of this year, Taiwan’s exports rose 16.8 percent from a year earlier to US$80.02 billion, while its imports rose 9.3 percent from a year earlier to US$63.49 billion. Taiwan’s trade surplus in the two months rose 58.8 percent from a year earlier to US$16.53 billion.
Taiwan’s imports from South Korea in the two-month period hit US$7.94 billion, up 58.8 percent from a year earlier as Taiwanese importers raised their purchases of South Korea-made memory chips to vault Seoul to become the second largest supplier, only trailing China and Hong Kong, which sold US$12.06 billion worth of goods to Taiwan, up 6.7 percent from a year earlier, Tsai said.
Looking ahead, Tsai said Taiwan’s exports are forecast to range between US$41.4 billion and US$42.6 billion in March, with a year-on-year growth range at negative 1 percent to positive 2 percent due to a relatively high comparison base over the same period last year.
Still, Tsai said, Taiwan’s outbound sales are estimated to rise 10-11.2 percent from a year earlier to US$121.42 and US$122.62 billion in the first quarter of this year on the back of emerging technology development.
(By Chang Ai and Frances Huang)
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