By Meagan Clark - Taiwan’s export orders grew the fastest in 17 months in June, the government said Monday, a sign that the recovering global economy is hungry for more of Asia’s mobile phone devices and other manufactured goods.
Export orders from the Chinese island totaled $38.82 billion in June, up 2.1 percent from the previous month and up 10.8 percent from the same month of last year, Taiwan’s ministry of economic affairs said in a statement. The rise is the highest since 17.9 percent growth in January 2013.
Orders for electronic items surged 17 percent compared to last year, to $9.79 billion. Orders from mainland China and Hong Kong, which together make up about 40 percent of Taiwan’s export market, rose 14.5 percent compared to last year to $10.21 billion, primarily from electronics, the ministry said. U.S. orders rose 6.7 percent to $9.41 billion and European orders rose 15.2 percent to $6.86 billion compared to last year.
Foxconn Technology Group, the largest iPhone assembler, is based in Taiwan and shipped orders in June of Apple Inc.’s next-generation iPhone. Still, export orders of other items like flat-paneled televisions have fallen from a year earlier.
Taiwan’s economy is heavily export-oriented, and electronics account for 28 percent of the country’s exports, according to Trading Economics. The economy grew 3 percent in the first quarter, a little better than expected. Full-year growth for this year is expected to settle at 2.98 percent, the Taiwanese government has forecasted.