Exports of machine tools saw a month-on-month decline in November to US$297.17 million despite posting an increase in the previous month, preliminary statistics indicate.

The number is a 1.8 percent decline from October, according to Carl Huang, secretary-general of the Taichung-based Taiwan Machine Tool and Accessory Builders' Association, on Tuesday. The drop came after exports increased 8.5 percent from September to October.

Huang attributed the sudden change to fluctuation throughout the year amid global economic uncertainties and less robust growth in the United States and China.

Machine tool exports were weak in the first quarter before picking up slightly in the second, he told CNA, but the improvement was “not as good as expected.”

Exports in the first 11 months of this year totaled US$3.23 billion, down 17.4 percent from the same period last year. Huang predicted the total for the year would represent a 15 percent contraction year-on-year, dropping exports to 2008 levels.