EYE ON TARIFFS: Suppliers have gained fewer orders, as clients have become more conservative about consumer demand for high-end smartphones, an official said
Taipei Times
Date: Sep 21, 2019
By: Kwan Shin-han / Staff reporter
Export orders last month fell for the 10th consecutive month, with an annual drop of 8.3 percent, the largest decline since February, due to lower demand for information and communications technology (ICT) products amid the US-China trade dispute, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Export orders for ICT products dropped 9.7 percent from a year earlier to US$10.47 billion, the biggest fall since an 11.1 percent decline in February, the ministry said.
August is usually the high season for the industry, with local suppliers providing more new components for clients such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, which launch products in September, the ministry said.
However, this year local suppliers gained fewer orders, as clients have become more conservative about consumer demand for high-end smartphones due to new tariffs to affect products in December and global economic growth slowing, Department of Statistics Director Huang Yu-ling (黃于玲) told a news conference in Taipei. [FULL STORY]