DOWNTREND: Last month signaled an end to 21 months of expansion as orders for technology-related products declined, but first-half orders still hit a record high

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 21, 2018
By: Kuo Chia-erh  /  Staff reporter

Export orders edged down 0.1 percent year-on-year to US$40.31 billion last month, mainly due to slower sales of information technology and communications (ICT) products, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

Last month’s figure ended 21 consecutive months of annual expansion and missed the ministry’s target.

Export orders for the first half of the year still reached a record-high US$238.44 billion, up 6.6 percent from the same period last year.

“Last month’s decline was mainly due to a drop in orders for technology-related products,” Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) said at a news conference.    [FULL  STORY]