introduction
Taiwan, one sea away from Fujian, has the same economic aggregate. What is the situation at the per capita level?
What are the significant characteristics of Taiwan's economic development and industrial layout, which is in a high income economy as a whole?
Now, let's briefly review the development of Taiwan.
(Taipei)
1、 The eighth largest economy and the third largest per capita income
Since the 1950s, Taiwan's GDP has accelerated. From the past US $1.2 billion to In 2021, it will be 774.9 billion US dollars, and the average annual growth rate of the whole Taiwan will be about 7.3%.
The GDP is translated at the average exchange rate, Taiwan's GDP in 2021 will be about 5 trillion yuan, ranking eighth among the 34 provincial administrative regions in China.
To sum up, Guangdong has the highest GDP of 12.44 trillion yuan in 2021, followed by Jiangsu with 11.64 trillion yuan. Taiwan's GDP is equivalent to that of Hubei, both of which are 5 trillion yuan, It is slightly higher than Fujian's 4.88 trillion yuan.
(Top 10 provinces with GDP)
On the overall level, compared with the 1990s, Taiwan's GDP growth rate declined slightly, but the actual growth rate has been stable at about 3.6%. The COVID-19 epidemic had a certain impact on the economy as a whole, but it has recovered rapidly since then.
In 2020, Taiwan's economic growth rate will be 3.4%. In 2021, the scale will reach 6.6% again. This growth rate can also rank top in the world.
In terms of per capita GDP, among the 34 provincial administrative regions in 2021, Taiwan ranked third with 213000 yuan. Macao and Hong Kong ranked first and second. This level has reached the level of high-income economies.
On the whole, Taiwan's regional GDP ranks first in the country, and its per capita income has reached a high level.
(Top 10 provinces with per capita income)
What are the characteristics of Taiwan's economic and industrial structure?
2、 The manufacturing industry takes the lead and the electronics industry takes the lead
From the 1980s, Taiwan's primary industry began to decline, and has remained at about 2% since the 21st century. The development of the secondary and tertiary industries has fluctuated from high to low over the years.
For example, around 2001, The proportion of the secondary industry dropped to 28.9%, and then the scale rose to 37.8%. The manufacturing industry in the secondary industry was 24.3% at a low level before, and later this scale rose to 33.8%.
At present, among Taiwan's top five industries, Manufacturing ranked first. It is followed by wholesale and retail, accounting for 16.2%. The proportion of real estate is 7.9%. The scale of financial insurance and public administration is 6.9% and 5.7% respectively. Among them, the highest manufacturing added value reached 1.6 trillion yuan, which is one twentieth of the national level.
(Proportion of added value of each industry)
In the manufacturing system, the electronics industry occupies an absolute leading position.
The electronics industry, including electronic products and electronic components industry, has accounted for half of the overall manufacturing industry, reaching 51%. Its scale added value reached 754.9 billion yuan, of which the output value of the semiconductor industry exceeded 1 trillion yuan, ranking second in the world.
In addition to the electronics industry, the manufacturing of chemical materials and metal products also has a certain scale of development in Taiwan, accounting for 6% respectively. In addition, the scale of mechanical equipment manufacturing has also reached 5%.
However, on the whole, the dominant electronic industry has an unshakable position.
(Proportion of manufacturing scale)
Taiwan's electronics industry started in the mid-1980s. Japan, which had an advantageous position in this field, began to change its ownership of the electronics industry due to trade friction between the United States and Japan.
Before that, Clothing and textile are the leading industries in Taiwan's manufacturing industry The added value of the electronics industry is less than half of the former. Later, with the establishment of TSMC in 1986, Taiwan's electronic component industry started rapidly.
By the 1990s, the electronics industry, together with the petrochemical industry, had been on an equal footing with the clothing and textile industry, constituting the main development model of Taiwan's manufacturing industry.
(Taipei City)
Since then, the electronics industry has become the dominant industry. Its development has left other industries far behind, whether in terms of added value or gross product. Since then, Taiwan's electronics industry also has a place in the world , and has always maintained a strong competitiveness, a large number of products for export.
3、 High dependence on foreign trade
Export orientation is the main feature of Taiwan's economic development, and its dependence on foreign trade has reached 106.8%. Among them, the export of electronic and communication products is the largest.
(R&D investment field)
Especially after the COVID-19 epidemic gradually ended, Taiwan's export trade rebounded strongly, The export amount in 2021 exceeded 440 billion US dollars, an increase of 35.6% over 2019.
Specifically, in the field of electronic products, its export scale exceeded 172 billion US dollars, accounting for 38.5% of the total export scale. Secondly, the export scale of communication products was 61.3 billion US dollars, accounting for 13.7% of the total export scale. In terms of market, the mainland is Taiwan's largest market, and its scale share has been stable at about 40% in recent years.
(Electronic industry remuneration)
In addition to selling products, there are also import areas with high dependence on foreign trade. Taiwan's import is characterized by various raw materials.
Take energy as an example, Taiwan's energy self-sufficiency rate is very low. Essential energy such as oil and natural gas almost all rely on imports 。 Statistics show that the total supply of oil and gas resources in 2021 is 143.97 billion liters of oil equivalent, of which the import scale is 1407, and the self-sufficiency rate is only 2.3%.
On the whole, although the electronics industry is large in scale, it is dominant, which also leads to the simplification of the industry. This model is highly bound to the development of global economy and industry. Once there is fluctuation, it will become a situation of both loss and prosperity.
(Foreign trade dependence)
In addition, the energy gap will also hinder the large-scale development of the economic industry in the long run. To make up for these shortcomings, we need to look at the development and trend behind from the system level.
Only when the two sides of the Taiwan Straits move towards real reunification in the future, can the gap in raw materials and the imbalance in economic development between regions be fundamentally reversed.
(Taipei Zhonghua Road)
At present, the single development of industry, coupled with the high proportion of export-oriented economy, will increase more uncertainties, which will also become the main reason for restricting the next step of development.
reference material:
Taiwan Economy 2022: Situation and Problems. Securities Research Report, 2022-08-04
