Taiwan export orders soar in March as manufacturing in mainland resumes

TAIPEI, April 20 -- Taiwan companies saw export orders up 40.4 percent month on month to 40.26 billion U.S. dollars in March when their assembly lines in the Chinese mainland rolled again.

Year on year, the March figure increased by 4.3 percent, the island's economic affairs department said in a press release Monday.

The March growth of export orders came after the continuous decrease in January and February and against the previous forecast made by the department in February that the export orders might drop by 9.3 percent to 13.2 percent year on year.

The department attributed the soaring export orders to the reopening of factories and logistics in the mainland as the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) eased.

Enterprises have begun to receive orders that they failed to take in February due to epidemic control measures, leading to the extra increase of export orders, the statement said.

Among major export products, the orders for IT products increased the most by 90.8 percent month on month to 11.54 billion dollars.

However, despite steady growth of exports of IT and electronic products, the island's exports in the short future may be held back by challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and low oil and steel prices, the statement said.

The statistics consist of export orders taken by Taiwan enterprises and produced both in and outside Taiwan.