Taiwan export orders drop for 9th month

Taiwan's export orders dropped for the ninth consecutive month year on year in December mainly due to weak global economic activity and flagging commodity prices, new data showed on Wednesday.

Export orders were valued at 38.81 billion U.S. dollars in December, down 12.3 percent from a year earlier and 4.8 percent from November, according to a statement released by the island's economic authority on its website.

The combined value of export orders in the whole of 2015 stood at 451.81 billion U.S. dollars, down 4.4 percent year on year, representing the first yearly decline in six years, the data showed.

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

The only sector that recorded growth in export orders in 2015 was information and communication, with an increase of 4.8 percent year on year.

Precision apparatus, metal products, and plastic and rubber products all saw double-digit declines due to weak global demand.

The economic authority said orders may remain thin in the first quarter of this year, as the electronics sector enters a slack season and many other sectors will continue to feel the pressure from flagging oil and steel prices. Meanwhile there will be fewer working days due to the Spring Festival, or the Chinese lunar new year.

Things may gradually change for the better in the second quarter, when demand is likely to recover, according to the statement. Endi