Different from customs-cleared exports, export orders are a critical gauge of how actual exports are likely to perform in one to three months. Export orders totaled US$107.98 billion in the first quarter of last year. Last month, export orders inched up 0.9 percent from US$43.38 billion a year earlier, with the electronics segment showing the fastest pace of growth, ministry data showed. Last year as a whole, export orders contracted 5.3 percent annually to US$484.56 billion from US$511.82 billion, according to the statistics compiled by the ministry. “Easing trade tensions between the US and China played an important part in rebooting Taiwan’s export orders in December,” Huang said.
