Taiwan exports in July grew 8.2 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of 21.18 billion dollars, after an 11 percent rise to 20.09 billion dollars in June, the finance ministry said. Imports in July rose 16.7 percent to another record high of 20.73 billion dollars, against a 10.7 percent increase to 18.68 billion dollars in the preceding month, it said.
The July trade surplus of 450 million dollars was down from 1.41 billion dollars in June, the ministry said. For the first seven months of the year, the trade surplus stood at 10.99 billion dollars, up 14.9 percent, as exports rose 7.6 percent to 135.12 billion dollars and imports gained 7.0 percent to 124.13 billion dollars.