TAIPEI: Taiwan is expected to rank as Japan’s seventh-biggest source of imports this year, up from 11th last year, a Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) official said yesterday. Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Yang Kuei-hsien said the rise was caused by falling international oil prices and weak consumer demand in Japan.
Taiwan was seventh in Japan’s ranking of its major sources of imports in the first seven months of the year, the ministry said in a statement, citing statistics from Japan’s customs authorities.
Yang said he thought Taiwan would retain its seventh-place ranking — its highest in 13 years — for the rest of the year. Japanese imports from Taiwan ranked between eighth and 10th from 2005 to 2010, but fell to 12th in 2011, the ministry said.
Ministry officials said the drop was mainly caused by the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster in March 2011, which led Japan to stop using nuclear energy and purchase large quantities of natural gas from abroad. The natural gas imports elbowed Taiwan out of Japan’s top 10 sources of imports, and it remained in 11th place from 2012 to last year.
China was Japan’s largest source of imports last year with a 22.3 percent market share, followed by the US with an 8.8 percent share and Australia with 5.9 percent, the ministry said, citing Japanese customs data.
