Taiwan export orders jump 26.1%

Taiwanese export orders hit a historical high of $406.72 billion in 2010 on strong demand for computers, smartphones and other consumer electronic products, the government said Thursday.

The amount marked an increase of 26.1 percent over the previous year, the economic ministry said in a statement.

"With the global financial crisis easing and the world's economies starting to recover from the fourth quarter of 2009, the value of export orders hit a historical high," it said.

Last year the tech-savvy island received $100.6 billion worth of orders for IT and telecommunication products, up 26.8 percent year-on-year, as well as $99.4 billion worth of electronic products, up 27.0 percent.

In December alone, the value of export orders also hit a monthly record $36.6 billion, up $4.8 billion, or an increase of 15.3 percent year-on-year, it said.

Orders from China, the island's leading trade partner, for the first time broke the $100 billion-level to reach $109.1 billion for the full year of 2010. The figure represented growth of 27.2 percent year-on-year.

Orders from the United States increased 18.8 percent to $86.7 billion while those from Europe rose 24.7 percent to $71.7 billion as electronic product demand from the two regions gained momentum from the second half of last year.

(c) 2011 AFP