On August 20, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) disclosed the statistics for export orders in July, and the amount totaled US$45.57 billion, a record high in the same month from previous years, whereas the annual growth rate has increased to 12.4%. In view of such record growth, it has not only laid down a marker for positive growth for five consecutive months, but also achieved the largest increase in the same month in the past decade. When discussing August’s prospects, Huang Yu-ling, the Director of the Statistics Department, predicted that growth should continue, with export orders ranging between US$42.4 -- 43.9 billion, with an annual growth rate of between 5.9% and 9.6%.
　　Export orders in July performed better than expected, and set down a new monthly record since 2018. Huang Yu-ling explained that the demand for high-end semiconductor processors is booming, coupled with the continuous increase in long-distance business opportunities (i.e. remote work), it looked very clear that the placement of orders for information and communication products, electronic products, and even optical equipment will show significant growth. However, traditional industries have been affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, turning what was already a terminal market demand into a weak one. Furthermore, the price of international raw materials still remains low, and this has affected the order performance by offsetting part of the increase. 
　　Meanwhile, the ratio of overseas production has continued to rise, hitting 55% in July. The high reliance on the growth of the overseas production of information and communication products has increased by 3.3% compared to the same period in the previous year. In total, there was a cumulative increase of 1.6%, when compared to the same period last year.
　　Export orders have increased for five consecutive months, the longest sustained consecutive record of growth since 2018. Huang Yu-ling has estimated that the number of orders in August may fall between US$42.4 and 43.9 billion, with an annual growth rate of 5.9 - 9.6%. Moreover, she expects the growth to continue; however, she reminded the manufacturers to pay close attention to the unfolding developments of the COVID-19 epidemic and follow-up with the changes of the Sino-US trade war.
　　Regarding the three major sources of orders; orders from the US amounted to US$14.12 billion — which this is the highest figure to date when compared to the figures of the same month from the previous years — experiencing a year-on-year increase of 22.2%, marking it as the largest increase since February 2015. As for mainland China and Hong Kong, the figure amounted to US$11.98 billion — which is the single highest month from previous years — with an annual increase of about 16.8%, reckoned to be the largest increase since June 2018. Among the increase of products, electronic products have increased by 34.9% — which set them as the main-stream category amongst all other products. In Europe, orders amounted to US$8.92 billion — which is due to long-distance business opportunities (i.e. remote work) which has set a record high of the month when compared to the same month from previous years — seeing an annual increase of 18.2%, being the greatest increase since January 2018. (News source: Commercial Times)