INVENTORY DIGESTION:Orders for electronics goods grew only 4.1 percent year-on-year, while a surprise slump in the chemicals sector also weighed on growth

Taipei Times
Date: May 23, 2017
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

The nation’s export orders increased 7.4 percent year-on-year to US$35.61 billion last month, falling short of the government’s forecast of annual growth between 16.3 percent and 19.3 percent, due to weaker-than-expected demand for electronics goods, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

The growth momentum is expected to extend into this month as the ministry forecast the export orders would be between US$35.5 billion and US$36.5 billion, a flattish performance from last month’s US$35.61 billion, as the electronics goods sector is expected to continue digesting inventory.

That would translate into a year-on-year increase of between 5.24 percent and 8.21 percent from US$33.73 billion in the same period last year, the ministry said.

“We were very surprised by the results. Orders for electronics goods, which contributed 25.9 percent of total export orders, were affected by the slowing pace of semiconductor inventory digestion,” Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) told a news conference in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]