Taiwan export orders from mainland, Hong Kong up 8.9 pct in January

TAIPEI, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan companies received orders from the mainland and Hong Kong worth 15.35 billion U.S. dollars in January, an increase of 8.9 percent year on year, reported the island's economic affairs department.

The orders for electronic products showed the greatest year-on-year increase, growing over 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, followed by the orders for chemicals with an increase of 110 million U.S. dollars, the department said in a statement.

Taiwan companies saw their total export orders increase 11.7 percent year on year to 58.87 billion U.S. dollars in January, partly due to strong consumer demand, eased supply chain bottlenecks and high raw material prices.

It predicted a positive trend for the export orders for traditional goods considering the global economic recovery and the high costs of international raw materials.