Taiwan's trade surplus narrowed to USD 3.87 billion in June 2019 from USD 5.24 billion in the same month a year ago and below market expectations of USD 4.20 billion. Imports jumped 6.6 percent, while markets had forecast a 0.5 percent drop, boosted by purchases of machinery (44.5 percent) and parts of electronic product (9.8 percent). Among major trade partners, imports rose from Mainland China & Hong Kong (9.4 percent), the US (34.3 percent), Europe (13 percent), Japan (4.6 percent) and ASEAN (4.8 percent). Meanwhile, exports increased at a softer 0.5 percent, also defying forecasts of 4 percent fall, driven by sales of information, communication and audio-video products (20.2 percent) and parts of electronic product (3.3 percent). Exports rose to the US (18.5 percent), but declined to all other key partners. Balance of Trade in Taiwan averaged 1624.89 USD Million from 1981 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 6662.67 USD Million in September of 2017 and a record low of -847.44 USD Million in February of 2006.
Balance of Trade in Taiwan is expected to be 1800.00 USD Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Balance of Trade in Taiwan to stand at 4800.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Taiwan Balance of Trade is projected to trend around 3400.00 USD Million in 2020, according to our econometric models.