Taiwan’s machinery exports grew 1.4% year-on-year in the first two months of 2024, reaching $4.37 billion, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry reported yesterday.
To ensure accurate comparisons, the association combined data from January and February, accounting for the Lunar New Year holiday’s shifting dates—falling mostly in January this year, but in February last year—when business operations slow significantly.
Taiwan’s machinery exports mainly consist of inspection and testing equipment, electronic equipment, and machine tools. The latest figures align with Taiwan’s manufacturing sector’s purchasing managers’ index, which indicated operational improvements driven by rising orders, increased production capacity, and inventory growth, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research stated last week.
Breaking down the figures, exports of inspection and testing equipment rose 2.5% year-on-year to $756 million, while electronic equipment shipments surged 14% to $730 million. However, machine tool exports declined 18.9% to $273 million, with metal-cutting machine tools falling 22.2% to $215 million and metal-forming machinery slipping 3.6% to $57.18 million due to weak demand.
Despite the downturn in machine tool exports, the association remains cautiously optimistic, citing increased orders and buyer inquiries during last week’s Taipei International Machine Tool Show.
The United States and China continued to be Taiwan’s largest machinery buyers, purchasing $1.19 billion and $923 million worth of goods, respectively. The US accounted for 27.2% of Taiwan’s total machinery exports, followed by China at 21.1% and Japan at 8.6%, with Japanese purchases totaling $374 million.
While Taiwan’s machinery exports to the US increased 8.7% year-on-year, shipments to China declined 1%. The association warned that while machinery exports may not be directly impacted by US trade policies, indirect effects are likely, as escalating tariffs could trigger a global trade war.
