SURPRISING RESULTS:The Ministry of Economic Affairs said the scale of the annual decline in export orders last month was the smallest decline since October last year

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 21, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

The value of export orders for last month dropped 4.7 percent annually, much better than the government’s estimate of a 10 percent decline, but it still marked the 12th month straight of annual contraction in orders, the latest government data showed.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs attributed the better-than-expected results to the stronger-than-expected demand for international smartphone vendors’ new mid-end handsets.

“We were surprised by the results,” Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) said. “The scale of the annual decline last month represented the smallest decline since October last year.”

In addition to Apple Inc’s launch of its iPhone SE, Chinese smartphone vendors also introduced new mid-end handsets to the market last month, allowing Taiwanese components suppliers to receive more orders, which helped narrow the size of the annual drop in export orders last month, Lin said.     [FULL  STORY]