FX.co ★ Taiwan Export Growth Eases More Than Forecast

Taiwan's export growth eased markedly in August, and at a faster-than-expected pace, preliminary figures from the Ministry of Finance revealed on Wednesday.

Exports rose 2.0 percent year-over-year in August, much slower than the 14.2 percent surge in the previous month. Economists had forecast the growth to slow to 9.5 percent.

Exports of mineral products logged the sharpest growth of 91.9 percent annually in August. This was followed by a 12.0 percent increase in parts of electronic products.

At the same time, exports of base metals and articles made of base metals fell 10.0 percent, and machinery outflows dropped 5.4 percent.

On the other hand, annual growth in imports also slowed notably to 3.5 percent in August from 19.4 percent in July. The expected growth rate was 7.10 percent.

The trade surplus for August was $2.986 billion versus $5.034 billion in the previous month. Economists had forecast a surplus of $4.23 billion.