MAIN FACTOR: Despite international oil and raw material prices picking up, demand for related products was still sluggish, the Department of Statistics director-general said

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 08, 2020 page12
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The nation’s exports last month slid 3.8 percent from a year earlier to US$27.13 billion, as poor shipments of mineral, chemical and plastic products eclipsed record semiconductor sales, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

“Despite rebounds in international oil and raw material prices, demand for related products remained sluggish,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a news conference in Taipei.

That was the reason shipments of mineral products plunged a record 65.5 percent, while shipments of chemical, base metal and plastic products declined 25.3 percent, 23.8 percent and 23.4 percent respectively, Tsai said.

Price factors aside, a languid global economy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic continued to weigh on demand, she said.    [FULL  STORY]