Taiwan was the world's 16th largest exporting country and 17th biggest importer in 2010, according to a report released by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Thursday.

Taiwan had US$275 billion in exports and US$251 billion in imports last year, the WTO report said.

China was the world's top exporter, shipping US$1.578 trillion in goods to overseas markets, accounting for 10.4 percent of the global total, WTO statistics showed.

The United States came in second, with exports of US$1.278 trillion, or 8.4 percent of the world's total, US$19 billion more than third-ranked Germany.

Japan ranked fourth, with exports of US$777 billion, or 5.5 percent of the total.

The WTO forecast, however, that the country might see a 0.5 to 1.6 percent decline in exports this year because of the disruptions caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami last month.

Taiwan's main competitor South Korea overtook three European countries -- Italy, Belgium and Britain -- to become the world's seventh largest exporter, with US$466 billion in shipments.

Also on the top 10 exporter list were the Netherlands (fifth) and France (sixth).

Hong Kong ranked 11th, with US$405 billion in exports, and Singapore came in 14th, with exports of US$352 billion.

In terms of imports, the United States was the world's biggest buyer of overseas goods, with US$1.968 trillion in imports. China was second, with US$1.395 trillion in imports.

Rounding out the top 10 importer list were Germany, Japan, France, Britain, the Netherlands, Italy, Hong Kong and South Korea.

April 8^th, 2011

Source: WantChinatimes.com

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