Taipei, May 26 (CNA) Exports of Taiwan-made machinery rose more than 10 percent in the first four months of 2017 from a year earlier, bolstered by strengthening global demand as the world economy continues to recover.
Taiwan's machinery exports totaled US$7.6 billion in the January-April period, up about 13 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, according to Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) figures released Friday.
It was a welcome reversal of the negative trend seen the past two years. Taiwan's machinery exports hit a high of US$22.9 billion in 2014, but fell 6.1 percent in 2015 and another 1.7 percent in 2016, the MOEA data showed.
Machine tool exports rose 13.7 percent year-on-year to US$970 million during the four-month period, accounting for 12.8 percent of all machinery exports in the first four months, the highest of any product category.
Exports of Taiwan-made machinery for semiconductor and flat panel production during the same period rose 43.6 percent to US$710 million, taking a 9.5 percent share of total machinery exports, MOEA data showed.
The high sales growth in machinery for semiconductor and flat screen production reflected solid global demand for mobile devices, helping the integrated circuit and display industries generate strong results and feel good about future prospects, analysts said.
Also during the period, exports of Taiwan-made robots for industrial use rose 25.4 percent from a year earlier to US$409 million.
China was the largest buyer, with a 31.2 percent share of outbound robot sales, followed by South Korea (24.6 percent) and Japan (10.7 percent), the MOEA said.
Overall, China/Hong Kong was the biggest overseas buyer of Taiwan's machinery products in the four-month period, accounting for 27.5 percent of the total ahead of the United States (17.9 percent), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (15.6 percent) and Europe (13.3 percent).
Taiwan has been the fifth largest machinery supplier to China in recent years, after Japan, Germany, the United States and South Korea, according to the MOEA.
Its share of the Chinese imported machinery market was 6.5 percent in the first three months of 2017, after hitting 5.3 percent for all of 2016, 5.3 percent for 2015 and 5.5 percent in 2014, the MOEA said.
