Taiwan's Southeast Asian export model should advance from mainly exporting components and half-finished products toward exporting whole products, whole factories and integrated systems, collaborating with local manufacturers for production and original brand manufacturing, and cooperating with local large-scale traders or distribution network operators to expand the market, Premier Mao Chi-kuo stated today.
Mao made these remarks at today's Cabinet meeting after he was briefed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on expanding trade with the emerging Southeast Asian market.
The Southeast Asian market is geographically close to Taiwan, and a large number of ethnic Chinese, overseas compatriots and Taiwanese businesspeople operate there, the premier pointed out. Moreover, a large portion of the nation's new immigrants come from this region. Therefore, the market bears special significance.
To expand this market, the nation's businesses must discard the traditional thinking of capitalizing on the region's cheap labor; instead, they should consider the enormous business opportunity derived from its population of 600 million. They must therefore adhere to the export orientation of generating local consumption; success in doing so would be conducive to transforming the nation's industries through next-phase structural upgrades.
The MOEA stated that Taiwan's exports to the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) market dropped 10.4 percent in the first half of this year. Moreover, in the last decade from 2004 to 2014, the nation's ASEAN market share had reached a bottleneck, stagnating within the range of 4.8 percent to 5.6 percent. This means there is much room for growth. The nation must therefore employ more diverse and innovative means to take better advantage of the enormous market opportunity provided by the 10 ASEAN countries' 600 million residents.
The MOEA pointed out that it has planned more than 70 diverse marketing activities for this year. Among these, 11 overseas marketing road shows were conducted in the first half of this year, which assisted 273 manufacturers to gain business opportunities exceeding US$160 million. Meanwhile, six activities were carried out to assist overseas buyers with procurement in Taiwan, through which 191 buyers made purchases totaling US$460 million.