Taiwan Trade Surplus Shrinks In July

(RTTNews) - Taiwan's foreign trade surplus decreased notably in July as imports grew much faster than exports, preliminary figures from the Ministry of Finance revealed on Thursday.

The trade surplus shrank to $4.83 billion in July from $8.51 billion in the corresponding month last year. However, the surplus increased from $4.68 billion in June. The expected surplus was $6.1 billion.

Exports grew 3.1 percent year-over-year in July, which was much slower than the 23.5 percent surge in the prior month. Economists had forecast 6.1 percent growth.

Shipments of information, communication, and audio-video products jumped 45.4 percent annually in July, while those of electronic product parts fell by 12.0 percent.

Imports grew 16.2 percent annually in July after a 33.9 percent sharp increase in June. That was above the 11.2 percent rise expected by economists.