March 2010

Singapore exports jump by a quarter

Non-oil exports in March rose by 26.6% compared with a year earlier

Singapore has reported a rise in exports of more than a quarter as shipments of electronic goods to the rest of Asia jumped sharply.
Non-oil exports in March rose by 26.6% compared with a year earlier, faster than analysts had expected.
Exports of electronics goods rose by 39.4%.
Separately, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that China should allow the yuan to appreciate against other global currencies.
Analysts said the export figures bode well for Singapore's economic growth prospects this year.
"These export figures show that there is sustainable growth. We may see a pull back in the next two quarters, but by the end of the year we will only see a significant rise in GDP," said Robert Prior-Wandesforde at HSBC.
Weak yuan
Prime Minister Lee's comments on the yuan come days after Singapore allowed its own currency, the Singapore dollar, to rise against the US dollar in a bid to tackle inflation and control economic growth.
China has come under pressure in recent months, particularly from the US, to allow the yuan to strengthen.
The US has accused China of deliberately keeping the yuan weak to make Chinese exports cheaper, making it much harder for US firms to be competitive.
"[China] shifted to a more conservative position over the last two years, and fixed to the US dollar," Prime Minister Lee told Bloomberg TV.
"I think they should revert to where they were before the crisis and allow the yuan to go up gently."



Taiwan March Export Orders Rise More Than Estimated (Update2)
April 20, 2010, 5:02 AM EDT
(Adds economist’s comment in fourth paragraph.)

The value of export orders climbed to $34.39 billion last month from $27.41 billion in February, today’s report showed.

By Chinmei Sung and Janet Ong
April 20 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan’s export orders rose faster than economists expected in March as the global economic recovery boosted demand for computers and mobile phones.
Vice Premier Eric Chu said last month that the economy may expand by more than 4.8 percent this year and the government is aiming to cut the jobless rate to less than 5 percent. Rising orders may spur companies to hire, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract maker of chips, last week raising its estimate of global semiconductor sales.
“Demand has picked up, having returned to levels in 2008,” said Renee Yang, an economist at Yuanta Securities Co. in Taipei. “Companies are relatively optimistic, at least for April and May.”
Taiwan’s economy expanded 9.2 percent in the three months through December after five consecutive quarters of contraction. Its unemployment rate fell for a sixth consecutive month in February to 5.65 percent.
President Ma Ying-jeou is negotiating a trade accord with China that would cut import duties on Taiwanese goods in the world’s fastest-growing major economy and help cement the recovery.
Technology Spending
China’s economy expanded 11.9 percent from a year earlier, the biggest gain since the second quarter of 2007, the statistics bureau in Beijing said last week.
Morris Chang, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor, said last week that worldwide semiconductor sales will rise 22 percent this year, compared with a January prediction of an 18 percent increase.
Today’s figures were released after the close of trading on the stock exchange. The Taiex index rose 0.6 percent to 7,900.42. The Taiwan dollar gained 0.1 percent to NT$31.447 at the 4 p.m. close, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
The value of export orders climbed to $34.39 billion last month from $27.41 billion in February, today’s report showed.
Export orders from China and Hong Kong combined increased 59.7 percent last month, after a 49.4 percent gain in February. Orders from the U.S. climbed 18.2 percent from a year earlier, after a 13.5 percent advance in February.
Orders for electronics rose 39.1 percent last month, after a 40.9 percent increase in February, today’s report showed. Demand for information technology and communications products climbed 40.3 percent in March, after gaining 43.8 percent a month earlier.
--With assistance from Jay Wang in Singapore and Yu-Huay Sun in Taipei. Editors: Michael Heath, Stephanie Phang
To contact the reporters on this story: Chinmei Sung in Taipei at csung4@bloomberg.net; Janet Ong in Taipei at jong3@bloomberg.net

Japan's exports rise over 40 percent from year ago
(AP) – 1 hour ago

TOKYO — Japan's exports jumped 43.5 in March from a year earlier as a recovering global economy drove demand for the nation's cars and gadgets.

The result the government released Thursday marks the fourth straight month of gains.

Shipments rose worldwide, with those to Asia up almost 53 percent. Exports to the U.S. grew 30 percent.

Imports rose 20.7 percent, leading to a trade surplus of 948.9 billion yen ($10.2 billion), according to the finance ministry.

Japan Sees Y948.9 Billion Trade Surplus In March
(RTTNews) - Japan posted a trade surplus of 948.9 billion yen in March, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. That was below analyst expectations for a 975.4 billion yen surplus following the revised 649.6 billion yen surplus in February.

Exports surged an annual 43.5 percent to 6.004 trillion yen - slightly below forecasts for a 45.9 percent increase on year after the 45.3 percent annual gain a month earlier.

Exports to China jumped 47.7 percent on year, the data showed, while exports to Asia surged 52.9 percent on year. Exports to the United States added an annual 29.5 percent, while exports to Europe collected 26.7 percent on year.

Imports jumped 20.7 percent on year to 5.055 trillion yen - roughly in line with expectations for a 21.0 percent increase after the 29.5 percent annual expansion in the previous month.

Among the imports, Japan imported 19 million kiloliters of crude oil in March, up 4.9 percent on year. The crude import bill came in at 825 billion yen, up 68.9 percent on year.

Imports of naphtha and gasoline were up an annual 13.7 percent to 2.1 million kiloliters, while imports of LNG jumped 15.9 percent on year to 6.7 million tons.

The adjusted trade surplus for March came in at 666.2 billion yen - topping forecasts for a 602.7 billion yen surplus after the revised 471.8 billion yen surplus in February.

Provisional data for fiscal year 2009 ending in March 2010 showed that exports plunged 17.1 percent on year to 59.013 trillion yen, marking the sharpest decline on record. Imports shed an annual 25.2 percent to 53.78 trillion yen, resulting in a trade surplus of 5.233 trillion yen.

The yen was little changed against its major opponents following the release of the data, quoted at 86.94 against the Swiss franc, 143.41 against the pound, 124.53 against the euro and 93.02 against the U.S. dollar.