Taiwan advanced one spot to become the world's 16th largest exporter and 17th largest importer in the first half of 2010, according to statistics by the World Trade Organization (WTO) released on Thursday. According to the WTO's short-term merchandise trade statistics, Taiwan's exports in the first six months of the year surged by 49.1 percent from a year ago to US$131.92 billion, overtaking the position of Spain in the economies surveyed. Taiwan's imports soared to US$119.98 billion, posting the largest annual gain of 64.8 percent among the top 30 importing countries. The Bureau of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said the encouraging results can be credited to the country's robust recovery after the global financial crisis in 2008. Among all regions worldwide, China continued to top the lists with both the highest exports and imports in the world. South Korea jumped two spots and three spots in the imports and exports categories to finish at No. 9 and No. 7, respectively. The BOFT said South Korea's wide variety of export items helped the country recover faster than Taiwan, whose major exports are concentrated more densely in the information and communication technology sector. Now that Taiwan has signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China, it will be better positioned to enter free trade agreements with its major trading partners, the BOFT noted. The ECFA and the expected FTAs should both help Taiwan's trade volume continue to expand and the nation should move up further in the global trade rankings next year, the BOFT said. Meanwhile, in Taiwan, the performances of high loan-to-value (LTV) loans stabilized and delinquencies trended downwards. In addition, there remains no downward pressure on the ratings in all three markets, Moody's Investors Service said in its just-published “Asia ex-Japan RMBS 2Q2010 Performance Review.”
