TAIPEI: Taiwan’s export orders rose for a 16th straight month at a quicker pace than expected, a positive sign for technology manufacturers and the island’s economic prospects. Strong global demand for tech gadgets has raised confidence Taiwan’s government can meet its upwardly revised 2017 GDP forecast of 2.58 percent, which will give the central bank room to keep rates unchanged at its review on Thursday.
November export orders rose 11.6 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Wednesday, compared with 8.1 percent forecast in a Reuters poll. Orders rose 9.2 percent in October and 6.9 percent in September.
The ministry also projected that annual export order growth in December would be between 17.6 percent and 20 percent, with order value for 2017 reaching $48.5 billion to $49.5 billion.
It added that January-November export orders this year grew 10.2 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, reaching $444.3 billion, a historical high for the period.
“Export order performance is generally in line with our forecast and we expect Apple’s iPhone X shipments will explode from December until the beginning of next year,” said Carl Liu, an analyst at KGI Securities Investment Advisory Co Ltd.
