Taiwan's July export orders fall again, but demand from China picks up

Taipei

TAIWAN'S export orders in July contracted for the 16th straight month as global demand for technology pro-ducts stayed weak, but Chinese orders grew in a sign of recovering factory activity.

The island's tech manufacturers have cut their sales forecasts amid weak global growth and a China slowdown, but have been cautiously optimistic that demand for consumer electronics would pick up ahead of the year-end festive season and the anticipated launch of Apple's new model iPhone.

July's figures show that orders for the expected rollout of the iPhone 7 were not as strong as hoped for. "Orders for components used in the new iPhone model missed expectations ... we would be able to get a clearer picture about its overall demand in September," said Forest Chen, an economist at Yuanta Investmen…