A Report for the Current Status of Taiwanese Machine Tools Industry in October 2009
By C.C. Wang
President, TAMI
The exports from January to October 2009 decreased by 56.5% over last year; the imports decreased 80.2%. High-tech industry’s demands to equipment dropped steeply.
1. Exports of Taiwan Machine Tools
Based on the customs statistics in October 2009, the total export value of Taiwan machine tools reached US$ 1.46 billion reflecting a 56.5% negative growth compared to last year. The export is decreasing dramatically. Among which cutting tools shared US$ 1.07 billion with a decrease of 58.4% comparing with the same period in last year. Forming machine tools shared US$ 335 million with a decrease of 49.0%
(1) Exports Categorized by Products
To categorize by products among machine tools, machining centers decreased by 64.8%, lathes by 55.7%; grinding machines by 58.3% and milling and boring machines by 48.3%. Among forming machine tools forging and punch presses decreased by 51.1%, and other forming machine tools decreased by 40.5% when comparing with the same period in last year. Refer to Table 1 for details.
(2) Exports Categorized by Countries
To rank by countries, China and Hong Kong were first with an export value of US$ 526 million, sharing 37.4% of the total export value and showing a 45.5% negative growth. The US ranked second with an amount of US$ 108 million, sharing 7.7% of the total export value and showing a 62.2% decrease. Germany ranked third with the amount of US$ 65 million, sharing 4.6% of the total and had 65.7% downturn comparing to the same period in last year. Refer to Table 2 for details.
2. Imports of Taiwan Machine Tools
According to customs statistics in October 2009, the import value of Taiwan machine tools amounted to US$ 277 million, which was 80.2% less than the last year. Among which cutting machine tools amounted to US$ 222 million which decreased by 83.1% compared to the previous year. Forming machine tool shared US$ 55 millions which had a decrease of 34.8%.
(1) Imports of Taiwan Machine Tools
In October 2009, the major imported machine tools were unconventional machine tools which dropped by 92.3% over the last year. Among which, machining centers decreased by 53.4%; lathes decreased by 56.0%; boring and milling machines increased by 59.0% and grinding machines decreased by 42.1%. As for the imports of forming machine tools, forging and punch presses decreased by 37.4% and other forming machines increased by 14.4%. Refer to Table 3 for details.
(2) Imports Categorized by Countries
To rank the countries from which Taiwan imported machine tools in October 2009, Japan was the first with an amount of US$ 132 million, sharing 47.8% of the total import value and reflecting and 84.5% drop. The Germany ranked second with an amount of US$ 40.2 million, sharing 14.5% of the total import value. This reflected a 48.9% negative growth. Italy ranked third with an amount of US$ 20 million, sharing 7.0% of the total and increased by 43.5%. Refer to Table 4 for details.
