TAIPEI : Taiwan’s exports likely contracted in October for the second month in a row, amid fears of a global recession, uncertainties due to the war in Ukraine, and COVID-19 flare-ups in China, according to a Reuters poll.
Taiwan, a global hub for chip production and a key supplier to Apple Inc, is one of Asia’s leading exporters of technology goods. The trade data is seen as an important gauge of world demand for tech gadgets.
Exports last month were estimated to have dropped 6 per cent from a year earlier, a Reuters poll of 22 analysts showed on Monday, slightly faster than the 5.3 per cent contraction in September.
The export forecasts varied widely between an expansion of 2.14 per cent and a contraction of 13.4 per cent, reflecting uncertainties over the global economy, supply chain disruptions due to pandemic lockdowns and power shortages in China, as well as the fallout from Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine.
Taiwan’s finance ministry had predicted October exports could contract in a range of 3 per cent to 6 per cent from a year earlier.
Separately, the consumer price index was expected to have risen 2.7 per cent in October from a year earlier, a slower rate than 2.75 per cent in September, according to the poll.
The trade and inflation data will both be released on Tuesday.
(Poll compiled by Anant Chandak and Carol Lee; Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
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