Thanks to the depreciation of the Taiwan dollar's forex value and economic traction, the first quarter earnings per share (EPS) of Taiwan's tool machine makers grew by a factor of two from the same period last year.

The United Evening News reported that EPS of Taiwan-listed machine tool makers, including Goodway Machine Corp., Hiwin Technologies, Kao Fong Machinery Co. , Tongtai Machine & Tool Co. and Taiwan Takisawa Technology Co., more than doubled in the first quarter.

Hiwin the Most Profitable

With an EPS value of NT$2.1, Hiwin Technology is purportedly the No. 1 profit maker among Taiwan's machine tool manufacturers.

Taiwan's machinery exports rose 8.2 percent annually to US$6.46 billion during the period to April, with machine tools exports growing to US$320.49 million in April, up 1.1 percent from the same month last year.

Taiwan's machine tool exports rose slightly in April on strong demand from Germany and Thailand, the Taichung-based Taiwan Machine Tool and Accessory Builders' Association said recently.

Germany saw the sharpest annual increase in shipments at 66.8 percent, meaning exports worth US$11.75 million in April. Thailand also saw strong annual growth of 25.3 percent, followed by the Netherlands at 22.8 percent, the group said.

Exports of machine tools to major trade partner China, however, plummeted 16.5 percent year-on-year to US$101.24 million in April, the biggest decline among all markets.

The drop was attributed to China's slower-than-expected recovery, which the association said dampens the total growth of the global market.

Based on the latest data released by the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry, Taiwan's machinery exports rose 8.2 percent year-on-year to US$6.46 billion for the first four months of the year as declines in shipments to India, Thailand and China were balanced out by increases in the U.S. and Europe.

Shipments to China Drop 1%

Outbound shipments to China, the sector's largest export destination, dropped 1 percent year-on-year to US$1.64 billion in the first four months and accounted for 25.4 percent of overall exports, data showed.

Shipments to Thailand posted the largest decline, falling 15.6 percent to US$231.04 million from the previous year, while those to India dipped 11.8 percent to US$121.97 million, data showed.

However, exports to other Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, saw annual increases during the four-month period, with shipments to Vietnam rising 36.2 percent to US$237.08 million and those to the Philippines jumping 64 percent to US$140.29 million, data showed.

The latest data also showed that shipments to the U.S., the sector's second-largest export destination, increased 12.6 percent year-on-year to US$1.11 billion in the first four months, while those to Germany, the sixth largest, and the Netherlands, the 11th largest, surged 25.5 percent to US$199.65 million and 30 percent to US$134.5 million, respectively, during the same period.

During the first four months of the year, Taiwan's machine tool exports worldwide totaled US$1.13 billion, a 3.6-percent growth over the same period in 2013, statistics showed.

Taiwan's machinery exports this year are estimated to grow 10 percent from last year, when shipments rose 1.6 percent annually to US$19.76 million, backed by improving demand from the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry said.