ICT Product Shipment Peak Recedes, April Exports Still Second Highest at US$67.62 Billion
Taiwan's Ministry of Finance announced that April exports reached US$67.62 billion, the second-highest monthly record in history. However, due to the receding peak of ICT product shipments in March, exports decreased by 15.7% month-on-month. Strong demand for AI, high-performance computing, and cloud services, along with rising prices for some products, continue to boost export performance.
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- 📰 Published: May 8, 2026 at 19:28
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Central News Agency
(Central News Agency reporter Lu Yen-tzu, Taipei, 8th) The Ministry of Finance announced today that April exports amounted to US$67.62 billion, setting the second-highest monthly record in history. However, affected by the receding peak of ICT product shipments in March, there was a 15.7% month-on-month decrease. Ministry of Finance officials pointed out that the robust business opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing, and cloud services, coupled with rising prices for some products, contributed to the export performance.
The Ministry of Finance today released preliminary statistics on customs imports and exports for April. April exports were US$67.62 billion and imports were US$53.27 billion, both marking the second-highest monthly records in history, trailing only March of this year. Year-on-year growth rates were 39% and 29.2% respectively. After offsetting imports and exports, April's trade surplus was US$14.35 billion, an increase of US$6.94 billion compared to the same period last year.
Cai Meina, Director of the Department of Statistics at the Ministry of Finance, stated that April's export performance was affected by the receding peak of ICT product shipments from March, resulting in a significant month-on-month decrease of 15.7%. Both the export value and year-on-year growth rate were lower than expected. Nevertheless, the export scale still reached US$67.62 billion, marking 30 consecutive months of positive growth.
She believes that the export performance reaching the second-highest monthly record in history can be attributed to four reasons: firstly, the promotion of global AI infrastructure, with related product demand remaining high; secondly, the mass production of new-generation AI computing systems, coupled with some new technology products entering their pull-in cycle; thirdly, the tight supply in the electronics industry chain has not eased, continuously pushing up price pressures, with April's export price increase nearing 20%, a 47-year high; finally, inflationary pressures in the technology industry and the stalemate in the Middle East situation have driven early procurement and urgent orders, thereby boosting exports.
Regarding imports, April's import value decreased by 9.6% month-on-month, but increased by 29.2% compared to the same month last year. Cai Meina stated that this was mainly influenced by three major factors: international division of labor in the AI industry chain, expansion of derived demand from domestic exports, AI business opportunities stimulating domestic investment momentum, and a significant rise in international energy prices.
As for April's overall export performance being lower than expected, Cai Meina explained that this was because previous estimates were based on seasonality. In retrospect, March exports benefited from concentrated shipments, leading to a decline in April's export performance. The 15.7% month-on-month decrease was the largest for the same period in history, creating a strong contrast like riding a "pirate ship."
Reviewing the 11 major export categories in April, 7 continued to rise and 4 declined. Cai Meina stated that technology product exports remained strong, while traditional industries also saw a turnaround. Among them, ICT and audio-visual product exports reached US$30.57 billion, the second-highest monthly record in history, with a year-on-year increase of 62.3%, far leading other major export categories; electronic component exports were US$22.79 billion, also the second-highest monthly record, with a year-on-year increase of 38.9%.
Cai Meina pointed out that the combined export value of ICT and audio-visual products and electronic components reached US$53.35 billion, with a year-on-year growth rate as high as 51.4%, while the average year-on-year growth for other traditional industrial categories was 6.4%, which is the best performance in nearly four years excluding the Lunar New Year factor.
Looking at the export performance of various traditional industrial categories, Cai Meina explained that mineral products and plastics/rubber products increased by 12.7% and 5.6% year-on-year, mainly due to the surge in international crude oil prices caused by the Middle East conflict; electrical machinery products benefited from the spillover effects of AI business opportunities, active promotion of infrastructure and grid upgrades in major countries, with exports increasing by 27.2% year-on-year; optical and precision instruments and machinery saw year-on-year increases of 14% and 12.9% respectively, due to strong demand for laboratory equipment and accelerated expansion of wafer fabs internationally.
She explained that textile products decreased by 10.8% year-on-year due to the Middle East situation affecting customer ordering attitudes; small passenger car exports were also dragged down by the Middle East war, offsetting sales performance of drones to Europe, with overall transportation equipment decreasing by 6.7% year-on-year; chemical products decreased by 4.3% year-on-year due to a high base period last year. (Editor: Pan Yi-ching) 1150508
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(Central News Agency reporter Lu Yen-tzu, Taipei, 8th) The Ministry of Finance announced today that April exports amounted to US$67.62 billion, setting the second-highest monthly record in history. However, affected by the receding peak of ICT product shipments in March, there was a 15.7% month-on-month decrease. Ministry of Finance officials pointed out that the robust business opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing, and cloud services, coupled with rising prices for some products, contributed to the export performance.
The Ministry of Finance today released preliminary statistics on customs imports and exports for April. April exports were US$67.62 billion and imports were US$53.27 billion, both marking the second-highest monthly records in history, trailing only March of this year. Year-on-year growth rates were 39% and 29.2% respectively. After offsetting imports and exports, April's trade surplus was US$14.35 billion, an increase of US$6.94 billion compared to the same period last year.
Cai Meina, Director of the Department of Statistics at the Ministry of Finance, stated that April's export performance was affected by the receding peak of ICT product shipments from March, resulting in a significant month-on-month decrease of 15.7%. Both the export value and year-on-year growth rate were lower than expected. Nevertheless, the export scale still reached US$67.62 billion, marking 30 consecutive months of positive growth.
She believes that the export performance reaching the second-highest monthly record in history can be attributed to four reasons: firstly, the promotion of global AI infrastructure, with related product demand remaining high; secondly, the mass production of new-generation AI computing systems, coupled with some new technology products entering their pull-in cycle; thirdly, the tight supply in the electronics industry chain has not eased, continuously pushing up price pressures, with April's export price increase nearing 20%, a 47-year high; finally, inflationary pressures in the technology industry and the stalemate in the Middle East situation have driven early procurement and urgent orders, thereby boosting exports.
Regarding imports, April's import value decreased by 9.6% month-on-month, but increased by 29.2% compared to the same month last year. Cai Meina stated that this was mainly influenced by three major factors: international division of labor in the AI industry chain, expansion of derived demand from domestic exports, AI business opportunities stimulating domestic investment momentum, and a significant rise in international energy prices.
As for April's overall export performance being lower than expected, Cai Meina explained that this was because previous estimates were based on seasonality. In retrospect, March exports benefited from concentrated shipments, leading to a decline in April's export performance. The 15.7% month-on-month decrease was the largest for the same period in history, creating a strong contrast like riding a "pirate ship."
Reviewing the 11 major export categories in April, 7 continued to rise and 4 declined. Cai Meina stated that technology product exports remained strong, while traditional industries also saw a turnaround. Among them, ICT and audio-visual product exports reached US$30.57 billion, the second-highest monthly record in history, with a year-on-year increase of 62.3%, far leading other major export categories; electronic component exports were US$22.79 billion, also the second-highest monthly record, with a year-on-year increase of 38.9%.
Cai Meina pointed out that the combined export value of ICT and audio-visual products and electronic components reached US$53.35 billion, with a year-on-year growth rate as high as 51.4%, while the average year-on-year growth for other traditional industrial categories was 6.4%, which is the best performance in nearly four years excluding the Lunar New Year factor.
Looking at the export performance of various traditional industrial categories, Cai Meina explained that mineral products and plastics/rubber products increased by 12.7% and 5.6% year-on-year, mainly due to the surge in international crude oil prices caused by the Middle East conflict; electrical machinery products benefited from the spillover effects of AI business opportunities, active promotion of infrastructure and grid upgrades in major countries, with exports increasing by 27.2% year-on-year; optical and precision instruments and machinery saw year-on-year increases of 14% and 12.9% respectively, due to strong demand for laboratory equipment and accelerated expansion of wafer fabs internationally.
She explained that textile products decreased by 10.8% year-on-year due to the Middle East situation affecting customer ordering attitudes; small passenger car exports were also dragged down by the Middle East war, offsetting sales performance of drones to Europe, with overall transportation equipment decreasing by 6.7% year-on-year; chemical products decreased by 4.3% year-on-year due to a high base period last year. (Editor: Pan Yi-ching) 1150508
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