A Report for Current Status of Taiwanese Machinery Production in December 2008
By Mr. C. C. Wang
Vice President, TAMI
From January to December 2008, the export of Taiwanese machinery showed a 2.8% growth, but the export to China dropped by 46.1%. The imports increased by 0.1%. The figures indicated weak intentions for investment.
1. Taiwanese Machinery Exports Categorized by Product
According to customs statistics, form January to December 2008, the export value of Taiwanese-made machinery amounted to US$ 16.6 billion, which showed an increase of 2.8% comparing to the same period in last year. The export value of November amounted US$1.26 billion, a 7.7% decrease over the same period last year and indicating a slight downturn of export, The export value of December amounted US$ 1.1 billion, a 30.8%decrease. Following is the ranking of the major exported products. Machine tools ranked first with the export amount of US$ 3.7 billion and grew by 5.9%. Special function machines were second, whose export amounting to US$ 1.26 million with a 3.7% growth. Plastic and rubber machinery ranked third with the export amount of US$ 1.1 billion with an increase of 3.4% when comparing with the same period in last year. Refer to table 1 for details.
2. Taiwanese Machinery Exports Categorized by Countries
From January to December 2008, the export value of Taiwanese-made machinery to China and Hong Kong reached US$ 4.5 billion, sharing 27.3% of the total exports, indicating a 11.4% negative growth comparing with the same period in the last year. China and Hong Kong ranked first for Taiwanese machinery export. Following, the US ranked second with the export amount of US$ 2.6 billion. This shared 15.9% of the total exports and indicated a increase of 2.3%. Japan ranked third with the amount of US$ 998 million. This shared 6.0% of the total export value and indicated an increase of 5.0% compared to last year. Refer to Table 2 for details..
3. Taiwanese Machinery Imports Categorized by Products
According to customs statistics from January to December 2008, the import value of machinery reached US$ 18.5 billion. This number showed a 0.1% increase. The import value in November contributed US$1.2 billion, showing a 12.6% decrease over the same month in 2007; that in December numbered US$1.1 billion, a 39.7% decrease. The figures indicated weak intentions for investment. Major imported machinery is ranked as following: Special-purpose machines, mainly applied in high-tech industries such as semi-conductor and 3C, ranked first with US$ 5.1 billion, sharing 27.5% of the total value and decreased by 6.5%. Machine tools ranked second with an import amount of US$ 1.5 billion which shared 8.3% of the total and decreased by 39.9%. Following were fluid machines, ranking third with the import amount of US$ 1.1 billion, 5.8% share of the total and an 8.4% growth. Refer to Table 3 for details.
4. Taiwanese Machinery Imports Categorized by Countries
According to customs statistics from January to December 2008, Japan and the US were the major sources of machinery imported into Taiwan. Japan ranked first with the import value of US$ 7.96 billion which was 43.1% of the total import value and indicated a 1.8% growth. The US ranked second with the imported amount of US$ 3.76 billion and 20.4% share of the total. This indicated a 19.4% decrease. China and Hong Kong ranked third with the imported value of US$ 1.8 billion. This shared 9.9% of the total import amount and showed a 25.2% growth. Refer to Table 4 for details.
