SUSTAINABLE? Electronic parts accounted for 35.2 percent of shipments. The Department of Statistics director-general said that the US-China trade war ‘poses the biggest uncertainty’

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 10, 2018
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s exports regained traction last month, rising 16.7 percent from a year earlier to a record US$30 billion, driven by strong demand for high-performance chips, cryptocurrency mining and artificial intelligence applications, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

Inventory rebuilding among major Chinese smartphone brands also lent support and deepened Taiwan’s trade dependence on the market to a record 44.8 percent, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said.

“The robust showing could sustain this quarter amid continued global economic expansion, while the trade war between the US and China poses the biggest uncertainty,” Tsai told a media briefing.

The two big economies bought 55 percent of shipments from Taiwan, which is home to the world’s largest electronics suppliers, the ministry’s report said.    [FULL  STORY]