Taiwanese exports declined 16.8 percent in January from a year ago to $21.08 billion, data released by the Finance Ministry showed Tuesday. However, the decline was slightly smaller than 17 percent drop forecast by economists.
Imports were 11.9 percent lower than in January 2011, compared to an expected decrease of 16.7 percent.
As exports declined sharply, the trade surplus fell to $0.42 billion in January, which was notably below an expected surplus of $2.29 billion.
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