TAIPEI: Taiwan's export orders are still in decline but not as fast as they have been. In June, exports were down 10.91 percent, the least in eight months, signaling that the worst may be over for Taiwan's trade.

Orders, an indication of shipments in the coming one to three months, dropped 10.91 percent in June from a year earlier after retreating 20.14 percent in May, the "Ministry of Economic Affairs" (MOEA) said in Taipei yesterday. Huang Ji-shih, MOEA's chief statistician, expects export orders to start rising again in the fourth quarter.

The declines have slowed, helped by global demand that has been rising since February, led by emerging markets, such as the Chinese mainland, that are benefiting from government stimulus efforts, said Ma Tieying, a Singapore-based economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. The median estimate of 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted a drop of 18.7 percent.

World Trade Organization head, Pascal Lamy, told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday that global trade is contracting more slowly, especially in Asia. Japan's exports fell in June by the least this year as demand picked up on the Chinese mainland, the US and Europe, a government report released yesterday indicated.

Taiwan's industrial production declined 11.35 percent in June from a year earlier, after dropping a revised 18.42 percent in May, the government said yesterday.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's biggest made-to-order chipmaker, said sales in June were 5.3 percent higher than in May. Taiwan Semiconductor is a bellwether for the electronics industry because it makes chips for products ranging from mobile phones to games consoles.

Similarly, Singapore's exports dropped the least in nine months in June, while South Korea's shipments fell at the slowest pace in eight months.

The value of Taiwan's export orders rose to $27.94 billion last month from $25.17 billion in May, yesterday's report showed. In the first half of the year, export orders fell 23.28 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 25.85 percent drop in the January-to-May period.

Closer ties with the mainland and a three-day computer fair in Taipei in June may also have helped orders.

Lenovo Group and Haier Electronics Group are among 40 mainland companies that agreed to buy about $2.2 billion of goods from Taiwan, the island's trade council said. Computex, the world's second-biggest computer trade fair, generated orders worth $100 million and $700 million in follow-up business, the council said.

Export orders to the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong combined fell 10.49 percent last month, compared with a 17.65 percent drop in May.

Orders for electronics goods declined 6.12 percent last month, compared with an 11.33 percent retreat in May, yesterday's report showed. Demand for information technology and communications products rose 2.87 percent in June, after falling 11.9 percent in the previous month.

Orders from the US, Taiwan's second-largest market, fell 8.38 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 17.35 percent decline in May.

Bloomberg News

(HK Edition 07/24/2009 page2)