CONSERVATIVE OUTLOOK:The economics ministry expects export orders to grow this year, but is cautious amid the uncertainty over the Trump administration’s policies

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 21, 2017
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

Export orders for last month climbed 6.3 percent annually, but dropped 5.5 percent from November, as smartphone sales slowed, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

Last month’s results brought export orders for the full year to US$444.54 billion, down 1.6 percent from the previous year and weaker than government forecasts of a decline of 1.1 to 1.3 percent.

It also represented a second straight year of contraction, after 2015’s 4.4 percent drop.

“We expected sales of smartphones to be sustainable from the previous month, but shipments had apparently peaked and started to weaken last month,” Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) told a press conference.    [FULL  STORY]