| Economy - Taiwan | | | | | |
Through nearly five decades of hard work and sound economic management, Taiwan has transformed itself from an underdeveloped, agricultural island to an economic power that is a leading producer of high-technology goods. In the 1960s, foreign investment in Taiwan helped introduce modern, labor-intensive technology to the island, and Taiwan became a major exporter of labor-intensive products. In the 1980s, focus shifted toward increasingly sophisticated, capital-intensive and technology-intensive products for export and toward developing the service sector. At the same time, the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar (NT$), rising labor costs, and increasing environmental consciousness in Taiwan caused many labor-intensive industries, such as shoe manufacturing, to move to the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia. Taiwan has transformed itself from a recipient of U.S. aid in the 1950s and early 1960s to an aid donor and major foreign investor, especially in Asia. Taiwan is now a creditor economy, holding the world's third largest stock of foreign exchange reserves ($253 billion as of December 2005). Although Taiwan enjoyed sustained economic growth, full employment, and low inflation for many years, in 2001, the combination of the slowing global economy, weaknesses in parts of the financial sector, and sagging consumer and business confidence in the government's economic policymaking resulted in the first recession since 1952. The economy began to recover in 2002, but the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) slowed growth to 3.4% in 2003. The world economic upturn had driven growth in 2004 to 6.1%. However, slower world growth in 2005, higher energy prices and interest rates, and excess inventory dragged 2005 growth to 3.8%. | | | Foreign Trade | | |
Foreign trade has been the engine of Taiwan's rapid growth during the past 50 years. Taiwan's economy remains export-oriented, so it depends on an open world trade regime and remains vulnerable to downturns in the world economy. The total value of trade increased more than five-fold in the 1960s, nearly ten-fold in the 1970s, and doubled again in the 1980s. The 1990s saw a more modest, slightly less than two-fold, growth. Export composition changed from predominantly agricultural commodities to industrial goods (now 98%). The electronics sector is Taiwan's most important industrial export sector and is the largest recipient of U.S. investment. Taiwan became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a special customs territory in January 2002. Taiwan firms are the world's largest supplier of computer monitors and leaders in PC manufacturing. Textile production, though of declining importance as Taiwan loses its competitive advantage in labor-intensive markets, is another major industrial export sector. Imports are dominated by raw materials and capital goods, which account for more than 90% of the total. Taiwan imports coal, oil and gas to meet most of its energy needs. Reflecting the large Taiwan investment in the mainland, China supplanted the United States as Taiwan's largest trade partner in 2003. In 2005, China (including Hong Kong) accounted for over 25% of Taiwan's total trade and almost 38% of Taiwan's exports. Japan was Taiwan's second-largest trading partner with 16% of total trade, including 25% of Taiwan's imports. The U.S. is now Taiwan's third-largest trade partner, taking 15% of Taiwan's exports and supplying 11.6% of its imports. Taiwan is the United States' eighth-largest trading partner; Taiwan's two-way trade with the United States amounted to $56 billion in 2004 and rose 1% to $57 billion in 2005. Imports from the United States consist mostly of agricultural and industrial raw materials. Exports to the United States are mainly electronics and consumer goods. The United States, Hong Kong, the P.R.C., and Japan account for nearly 60.5% of Taiwan's exports, and the United States, Japan, and the P.R.C. provide almost 50% of Taiwan's imports. As Taiwan's per capita income level has risen, demand for imported, high-quality consumer goods has increased. The U.S. trade deficit with Taiwan in 2003 was $14 billion, fell slightly to $13 billion in 2004, and leveled off to $13 billion in 2005. The lack of formal diplomatic relations with all but 24 of its trading partners appears not to have seriously hindered Taiwan's rapidly expanding commerce, but has made free trade agreements extremely difficult to pursue. Taiwan maintains trade offices in more than 96 countries with which it does not have official relations. Taiwan is a member of the Asian Development Bank, the WTO, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Taiwan is also an observer at the OECD. These developments reflect Taiwan's economic importance and its desire to become further integrated into the global economy. | | | Agriculture | | |
Although only about one-quarter of Taiwan's land area is arable, virtually all farmland is intensely cultivated, with some areas suitable for two and even three crops a year. However, increases in agricultural production have been much slower than industrial growth. Agriculture only comprises about 1.7% of Taiwan's GDP. Taiwan's main crops are rice, sugarcane, fruit, and vegetables. While largely self-sufficient in rice production, Taiwan imports large amounts of wheat, corn, and soybeans, mostly from the United States. Meat production (poultry and pork) and consumption are rising sharply, reflecting a rising standard of living. Taiwan produces insignificant quantities of soybeans, corn, and wheat and, in order to meet demand for animal feed and wheat-based consumer products, Taiwan imports large amounts of these commodities, mostly from the United States.Overall, U.S. agricultural and food products account for more than 30% of Taiwanís agricultural import demand. U.S. food and agricultural exports exceed $2 billion annually, making Taiwan the United Statesí sixth-largest agricultural export destination. Taiwanís agricultural exports include frozen fish, aquaculture and sea products, canned and frozen vegetables, and grain products. Imports of agricultural products have increased since Taiwan's WTO accession, which is slowly liberalizing previously protected agricultural markets. In December 2003, in response to the first BSE detection in the United States, Taiwan decided to suspend the import of U.S. beef. While Taiwan briefly reopened its market in April 2005 to American beef from cattle under 30 months old, imports were suspended in June 2005 due to a second BSE detection in the United States. On January 25, 2006 Taiwan authorities reopened the market following decisions by Japan and Korea to reopen their markets. | | | Economic Outlook | | |
Taiwan now faces many of the same economic issues as other developed economies. With the prospect of continued relocation of labor-intensive industries to countries with cheaper work forces, Taiwan's future development will have to rely on further transformation to a high technology and service-oriented economy. In recent years, Taiwan has successfully diversified its trade markets, cutting its share of exports to the United States from 49% in 1984 to 15% by the end of 2005. However, a significant proportion of Taiwan's rapidly growing exports to the P.R.C. are ultimately dependent on consumer demand in the U.S. Taiwan firms are increasingly acting as management centers that take in orders, produce them in Taiwan, the Mainland or South East Asia and then ship the final products to the U.S. Taiwan's accession to the WTO and its desire to become an Asia-Pacific "regional operations center" are spurring further economic liberalization. |
|
|
|
This page was last updated on 29 September, 2008 |
| |
| | Friends:
Art: Louis Poyet - un vero maestro dell'arte della moltiplicazione delle immagini per mezzo della stampa.
Art: Mario Radice - Grande esponente dell'astrattismo italiano. Pittore, scultore e cultore di problemi d'architettura.
Music: Stay Inside - the new frontier of the music - free music, rock, lyrics, song, mp3, download, author, rock.
Science: Ing. Gianfranco Magrini - Science, Engineering, Transportation, Tunnels, Tubo del Lago di Como, Footballpoint...
Search Engine: edixxon.com - matching interests, your interests can be the same as ours - search them.
Computer: Storia del Computer - Quattro secoli di storia con oltre 1000 immagini.
Electronics: Standard Production - Advanced Electronics - Truth Machine, The world Smallest Radio, Mini Table...
Design: Homeware - the best of "made in Italy" and much more..., Brands, Designers, Products.
Food: Di grano antico - Elogio dei Pizzoccheri di Teglio. Con la Ricetta ufficiale dell’Accademia del Pizzocchero di Teglio
Coins: Private Collection by coinpc - World Coins - Medals, Rare and not, more than 700 pics.
Search Engine:
Edixxon |
Ask |
Yahoo |
Links |
Lycos |
Google |
Altavista |
MSN search |
Alexa |
| | | | | | |
|
|
Home 
Fields
World Records
World Dictionary
Geographic Names
Fields History
Chiefs of State
Intl. Organizations
Intl. Environmental Agree.
Other References
Notes and Definitions
