Taiwan's export orders drop for second consecutive month

Taiwan's export orders dropped for the second consecutive month to 35.79 billion U.S. dollars for May, down 5.9 percent from a year earlier, according to statistics released by the island's economic authority on Tuesday.

For the first five months of this year, overseas buyers placed orders worth 180.47 billion U.S. dollars with manufacturers in Taiwan, a decrease of 0.6 percent year on year.

Export orders are an indicator of actual exports a month or two later, and Taiwan is known as a big production base for electronics. Taiwanese export orders are, therefore, seen as a key reference for the global electronics sector.

Growth in export orders in May was only recorded in the information and communication sector, with an increase of 2.3 percent year on year, driven by strong demand for hand-held and wearable devices.

The electronics sector, however, posted a decrease of 3.5 percent due to emerging market's weak demand for smart phones and a drop in orders for televisions from Japan, the economic authority said.

In addition, two-digit year-on-year declines in export orders were reported in sectors including precision apparatus, plastic and rubber products, chemicals, base metals, and machinery

The largest orders came from the United States, totaling 9.79 billion U.S. dollars in May, up 5.2 percent from the same period last year, according to the economic authority. Endi