Off-Season Not Dull: Q1 Exports Hit New Quarterly High, Up Over 50% Leading Global Growth
Taiwan's Ministry of Finance announced preliminary customs trade statistics for March, with exports reaching US$80.18 billion, a new monthly high, up 61.8% year-on-year. Q1 exports totaled US$195.74 billion, up 51.1%, setting a new quarterly record and exceeding expectations. Taiwan's export growth of over 50% leads the Asian Tigers and major economies, primarily benefiting from strong global demand for memory in the AI wave, profiting alongside South Korea.
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- 📰 Published: April 10, 2026 at 19:43
- 🔍 Collected: April 10, 2026 at 20:00 (17 min after Published)
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The Ministry of Finance today announced preliminary customs trade statistics for March. March exports reached US$80.18 billion, a new monthly high, up 61.8% year-on-year; imports reached US$58.91 billion, also a new monthly high, up 38.3% year-on-year. After offsetting imports and exports, the trade surplus in March was US$21.27 billion, an increase of US$14.34 billion compared to the same month last year.
Cai Mei-na, Director of the Department of Statistics at the Ministry of Finance, observed that exports in the first three months reached US$195.74 billion, a year-on-year increase of 51.1%, and imports reached US$142.78 billion, a year-on-year increase of 34.8%. Both figures set new quarterly records. It is noteworthy that Q1 export value increased by 4.5% compared to the peak season of Q4 last year, indicating an "off-season not dull" phenomenon.
Cai Mei-na added that the Q1 export growth rate of 51.1%, along with a 98.9% year-on-year increase in exports to the United States and a 52.3% year-on-year increase in exports to ASEAN, both set the second-highest quarterly growth rates in history. Exports to Europe, with a 61.9% year-on-year increase, set a new quarterly record. Moreover, the overall export performance in Q1 far exceeded expectations, surpassing the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics' forecast by US$14.8 billion and 11.4 percentage points.
She analyzed that compared to the export performance of major economies from January to February this year, Hong Kong's year-on-year growth rate was 39.9%, Singapore's 28.8%, China's 21.8%, the United States' 14.7%, and Japan's 9.6%. South Korea announced a 37.4% year-on-year export growth rate for the first three months, indicating that Taiwan's export performance not only leads the Four Asian Tigers but is also the only major economy with a growth rate exceeding 50%.
Cai Mei-na said that similar to Taiwan, South Korea benefited from the recent strong global demand for memory. In March, its export performance skipped two integer levels, directly soaring to a historical high of US$86.13 billion, highlighting that Taiwan and South Korea each have key advantages in this AI wave.
According to Ministry of Finance statistics, the trade value with South Korea in Q1 this year was US$27.63 billion, accounting for 8.2% of the total trade value. Cai Mei-na mentioned that South Korea has always been a major memory producer. Driven by AI business opportunities, both Taiwan and South Korea have benefited, and their division of labor has led South Korea to surpass Japan as Taiwan's third-largest trading partner since last year. (Editor: Yang Lan-xuan) 1150410
Cai Mei-na, Director of the Department of Statistics at the Ministry of Finance, observed that exports in the first three months reached US$195.74 billion, a year-on-year increase of 51.1%, and imports reached US$142.78 billion, a year-on-year increase of 34.8%. Both figures set new quarterly records. It is noteworthy that Q1 export value increased by 4.5% compared to the peak season of Q4 last year, indicating an "off-season not dull" phenomenon.
Cai Mei-na added that the Q1 export growth rate of 51.1%, along with a 98.9% year-on-year increase in exports to the United States and a 52.3% year-on-year increase in exports to ASEAN, both set the second-highest quarterly growth rates in history. Exports to Europe, with a 61.9% year-on-year increase, set a new quarterly record. Moreover, the overall export performance in Q1 far exceeded expectations, surpassing the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics' forecast by US$14.8 billion and 11.4 percentage points.
She analyzed that compared to the export performance of major economies from January to February this year, Hong Kong's year-on-year growth rate was 39.9%, Singapore's 28.8%, China's 21.8%, the United States' 14.7%, and Japan's 9.6%. South Korea announced a 37.4% year-on-year export growth rate for the first three months, indicating that Taiwan's export performance not only leads the Four Asian Tigers but is also the only major economy with a growth rate exceeding 50%.
Cai Mei-na said that similar to Taiwan, South Korea benefited from the recent strong global demand for memory. In March, its export performance skipped two integer levels, directly soaring to a historical high of US$86.13 billion, highlighting that Taiwan and South Korea each have key advantages in this AI wave.
According to Ministry of Finance statistics, the trade value with South Korea in Q1 this year was US$27.63 billion, accounting for 8.2% of the total trade value. Cai Mei-na mentioned that South Korea has always been a major memory producer. Driven by AI business opportunities, both Taiwan and South Korea have benefited, and their division of labor has led South Korea to surpass Japan as Taiwan's third-largest trading partner since last year. (Editor: Yang Lan-xuan) 1150410