Taiwan – Export-Import

Taiwan is surrounded by major trading partners in the People’s Republic of China to its west, Japan to its east and the Philippines to its south.

Taiwan exported US$347.2 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2020. That dollar amount reflects a 24.4% gain since 2016 and a 5.4% increase from 2019 to 2020.

73.3% of Taiwan’s exports by value were delivered to fellow Asian countries while 16.1% were sold to importers in North America. Taiwan shipped another 8.2% worth of goods to Europe.

Smaller percentages went to Oceania led by Australia (1.1%), Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean (0.8%) and Africa (0.5%).

Top Trading Partners

Countries that imported the most Taiwanese shipments by dollar value during 2020. Also shown is each import country’s percentage of total Taiwanese exports.

1.  China: US$103.1 billion (29.7% of Taiwan’s total exports)

2.  United States: $50.9 billion (14.7%)

3.  Hong Kong: $49.3 billion (14.2%)

4.  Japan: $23.5 billion (6.8%)

5.  Singapore: $19.2 billion (5.5%)

6.  South Korea: $15.2 billion (4.4%)

7.  Vietnam: $10.6 billion (3%)

8.  Malaysia: $9.5 billion (2.7%)

9.  Netherlands: $6.1 billion (1.8%)

10.              Germany: $6.1 billion (1.7%)

11.              Philippines: $5.7 billion (1.6%)

12.              Thailand: $5.3 billion (1.5%)

13.              United Kingdom: $3.4 billion (1%)

14.              Australia: $3.2 billion (0.9%)

15.              Mexico: $2.7 billion (0.8%)

About nine-tenths (90.4%) of Taiwanese exports in 2020 were delivered to the above 15 trade partners.

·  Hong Kong: Up by 22.1% (US$49.3 billion)

  China: Up by 12.2% (US$103.1 billion)

  United States: Up by 9.8% (US$50.9 billion)

  Singapore: Up by 5.4% (US$19.2 billion)

Hong Kong increased its purchases of products exported by Taiwan at the fastest pace from 2019 to 2020 via a 22.1% gain. Other increases belong to China (up 12.2%), United States (up 9.8%) and Singapore (up 5.4%).

Leading decliners among Taiwan’s major trade partners were South Korea (down -10.1%), Philippines (down -8%), Germany (down -7%) and the United Kingdom (down -6%).

Taiwan’s Top 10 Imports

1.  Electrical machinery, equipment: US$93.3 billion (32.5% of total imports)

2.  Machinery including computers: $43.2 billion (15%)

3.  Mineral fuels including oil: $29.6 billion (10.3%)

4.  Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $14 billion (4.9%)

5.  Vehicles: $9.7 billion (3.4%)

6.  Plastics, plastic articles: $7.7 billion (2.7%)

7.  Iron, steel: $7.2 billion (2.5%)

8.  Organic chemicals: $7.1 billion (2.5%)

9.  Other chemical goods: $6.2 billion (2.2%)

10.              Copper: $4.9 billion (1.7%)

Taiwan’s top 10 imports accounted for over three-quarters (77.6%) of the overall value of its product purchases from other countries.

Fastest growers among these top import categories from 2019 to 2020 were optical, technical and medical apparatus (up 14%), vehicles (up 8.2%), miscellaneous chemical goods (up 5.9%) then plastics both as a material and items made from plastics (up 5.3%).

The severest annual declines belong to mineral fuels including oil (down -33.2%) and organic chemicals (down -17.6%).