Taiwan’s exports emerged from a year-long decline in September, rising for the first time in 13 months on increased demand from the United States ahead of the year-end holiday shopping season.
September exports rose 3.4% in value from a year earlier to $38.81 billion, the finance ministry said on Wednesday, beating analysts’ forecasts in a Reuters poll for a 3.0% contraction.
Shipments also improved on a 7.3% fall in August, which was the smallest decline and the first single-digit percentage fall since October of last year.
The ministry had forecast exports would return to growth as early as September or as late as November, on expectations that rising demand for artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, data centres, and automotive electronics would pick up before the traditionally busy holiday season at the end of the year.
For October, the ministry predicted exports would be between flat and down 3%.
“Q4 exports could return to growth,” the ministry said.
Despite weak exports, a key driver for Taiwan’s economy, the island’s gross domestic product returned to growth in the second quarter, helped by resilient domestic consumption .
In September, total shipments of electronic components fell 4.3% from the year before to $16.264 billion, with semiconductor exports down 2.6%.
Taiwanese firms such as TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, are major suppliers to Apple Inc AAPL.O, Nvidia and other global tech giants, while providing chips for auto companies and lower-end consumer goods.
TSMC on Friday reported a 13.4% on-year drop in September sales.
Taiwan’s exports to China fell 8.8% in September, from a year earlier to $13.825 billion, after the prior month’s drop of 14.1%. The Chinese economy is beginning to show some signs of stabilisation after a rocky post-COVID recovery.
Exports to the United States rose 17.7%, quickening from 8.8% growth in August.
Taiwan’s September imports, often seen as a leading indicator of re-exports of finished products, dropped 12.2% to $28.49 billion. That compared with economists’ forecasts for a 14.15% fall.
