JEDDAH, 23 January 2004 — Taiwan reports a substantial increase in bilateral trade with Saudi Arabia. It rose by 69.12 percent to $4.64 billion in 2003, making the Kingdom Taiwan’s largest trade partner in the Middle East.
The growth in trade is, however, almost entirely due to the high oil price during the year. Saudi Arabia supplies a third of Taiwanese oil requirements, estimated at 700,000 barrels per day. Taiwan’s imports from the Kingdom reached $4.28 billion, up 77.68 percent on 2002 figures.
The trade balance favors the Kingdom, which is now the 7th largest exporter to Taiwan. The Kingdom has a surplus of $3.91 billion in the two-way trade, according to Yunus A. Ma of the information division of Taipei Economic & Cultural Representative Office in Riyadh. Taiwan’s exports to the Kingdom in 2003 totaled $361.07 million. They were the highest for three years, he said. They include computers, in particular laptops, monitors and scanners, as well as auto and machinery parts, furniture and plastic goods. The Kingdom’s exports to Taiwan, apart from oil, are principally petrochemicals. Chin-Ray Liu, director general at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Jeddah, said the island’s IT industry had transformed Taiwan into the world’s third largest producer of IT hardware, after the United States and Japan. It is the leading producer of laptop computers, monitors, computer boards and scanners, supplying over half the world sales.
