‘TRADE MOMENTUM’: The improvement in the annual figure is mainly caused by a low comparison base last year and does not signal a sustained recovery, MOF said

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 10, 2020
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Exports last month soared 24.9 percent from a year earlier to US$25.38 billion as local manufacturers raised capacity to make up for production disruptions in China amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

The increase could have exceeded 30 percent in the absence of the disease, which might push trade figures into contraction mode this month and beyond, if it evolves into a global threat and hurts the end market, the ministry said.

“The improvement in trade data had much to do with a low comparison base last year linked to the Lunar New Year,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing in Taipei.

Container ships are docked at the Port of Kaohsiung on Feb. 23. Taiwan’s exports last month rose 24.9 percent from a year earlier.

Photo: EPA-EFE / DAVID CHANG

Local firms stepped up production at home to make up for capacity shortages in China, Tsai said, adding that capacity adjustments are not order transfers.    [FULL  STORY]