China and Hong Kong have knocked-off the U.S. as the number one source for export orders following the release of annual figures Jan. 23, officials said. The economic ministry said export orders from Hong Kong and China reached $91.42 billion in 2007, surpassing the $84.53 billion registered from the United States.
"This was the first time that Hong Kong/China export orders topped the level of the U.S.," said Huang Ji-shih, head of the ministry's statistics department. In 2007, Taiwan took in export orders worth $345.81 billion, up 15.54% from the year before. For December total export orders to Taiwan fell to $31.02 billion from $31.89 billion in November.
The ministry said December export orders from Hong Kong and China rose 23.53% year-on-year to $8.24 billion while orders from the U.S. to 7.52 billion, up 9.48% year-on-year.
"The major contributors to our export orders last year were information technology and communications products as well as electronics devices," Huang said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
