By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterExports last month fell 7.6 percent to US$25.07 billion, slipping back into contraction territory as the Lunar New Year holiday and the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak have disrupted operations and limited order visibility, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. “Fewer working days weighed on exports, but they might regain growth momentum from this month” in the absence of major downside risks, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing in Taipei. Without the virus disruption, exports this month would have staged a 20 percent rebound, given last year’s low comparison base, Tsai said, adding that last month’s outbound shipments would have expanded 2.6 percent without the holiday disruption. In particular, semiconductor exports increased 6.7 percent, benefiting from 5G deployment and a demand for new smartphones and high-performance chips, the ministry said. Shipments bound for all destinations declined, except for a 1 percent gain in shipments to the US, it added.

Source: Taipei Times February 07, 2020 15:56 UTC