Taiwan says on track for record export value in 2010

Tuesday, August 10, 2010
TAIPEI, Aug 10 - Taiwan expects its exports to reach a record value of $273 billion in 2010 on strong demand from Asia and especially China despite festering economic issues in the West, the government said on Tuesday.
China and major Southeast Asian nations will drive tech-heavy Taiwan's export value this year above a previous high of $256 billion seen in 2008, the island's statistics bureau said.
Growth in exports to fast-growing China, Taiwan's top trading partner despite political hostilities, rose 37.2 percent year-on-year in July and gained month-on-month [ID:nTOE678062] as overall trade for the same period beat a median forecast from economists surveyed by Reuters.
'Export recovery is hugely related to mainland China's economic progress,' said Liang Kuo-yuan, president of Polaris Research Institute in Taipei. 'As long as China is growing at levels around 9 percent, it's ultimately going to help Taiwan.'
China's annual gross domestic product grew 11.1 percent in the first half and is forecast at 10.5 percent in the second half [ID:nBJB003875].
Further helping exports, Beijing has aggressively pushed local governments to buy from the $390 billion Taiwan economy as a way of selling its goal of eventual political reunification to the self-ruled island's China-wary public [ID:nTOE65E03V].
Annual two-way trade worth about $100 billion is due to grow next year after a tariff-busting agreement signed in June [ID:nECFA] takes full effect.
Asia accounts for 70 percent of Taiwan's exports, with China at 42.7 percent and the biggest six members of the Association of South East Asian Nations at 15.2 percent, both leading the United States and Europe, the statistics agency said. Export trends in Taiwan often lead those of its peers around the region.
Taiwan's export value of $141 billion for the second half of 2010 should top the first half on expectations of demand from Asia, which strategists see for now avoiding the see-saw recovery of the United States or the financial crisis in Europe.