Taiwan exported US$524.04 million wroth of machine tools in the first two months of this year, up a whopping 68.2% year-on-year, according to customs-cleared statistics compiled by the Taiwan Machine Tool Foundation (TMTF).

The tallies showed that exports of metal-cutting machine tools came to US$421.02 million, up 74.2% year-on-year and those of metal-forming machine tools amounted to US$130.1 million, up 47.4%.

In the first two months of this year, the year-on-year export growth was 92% for machining center, 72% for lathes, 64.2% for grinding machines, 70.6% for drilling, boring and milling machines, 42.1% for presses and shearing machines, 61.1% for other metal-forming machines.

In terms of major export outlets, China and Hong Kong together ranked first by absorbing US$210.7 million worth of Taiwan-made machine tools in the first two months of this year, up 71.9% year-on-year and accounting for 40.2% of the total exports. The second place went to the U.S. with US$38.56 million, up 120.4% and commanding 7.4%. Turkey ranked third with US$25.83 million, up 156.7% and accounting for 4.9%.

Other major export outlets, in descending order, were India, Thailand, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, Germany, South Korea, the Netherlands, Vietnam, Japan, United Kingdom and Singapore.

The TMTF`s tallies also show Taiwan imported US$135.15 million worth of machine tools in the first two months of this year, up 75.9% year-on-year. The import value of metal-cutting machine tools came to US$119.77 million, up 77% and that of metal-forming machine tools amounted to US$15.38 million, up 67.9%.

In terms of major import sources, Japan ranked first by selling US$88.37 million wroth of machine tools to Taiwan in the first two months of this year, up 85.9% year-on-year. Switzerland came second with US$16.7 million, up a whopping 1,198.3% and accounting for 12.4%. Germany ranked third with US$6.63 million, up 45.2% and commanding 4.9%.