April export orders 5.5 yy vs 3.8 poll forecast
Export orders from China 16.9 yy vs 9.1 in March
Ministry sees May orders between 1.1 and 1.7 yy

TAIPEI, May 20 Reuters Taiwan39;s export orders a bellwether for global technology demand fell for the first time in 25 months in April, taking a largerthanexpected hit from COVID lockdowns in China and broader global supply chain disruptions.

Export orders unexpectedly fell 5.5 from a year earlier to 51.9 billion last month, data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed on Friday.

The decline was the first in more than two years, since the COVID19 pandemic began sweeping the world in 2020, and upended analysts39; forecasts for 8.3 growth.

Orders for telecommunications products dropped 21.5 on year, mainly due to government measures to control the spread of COVID19 in China, the ministry said.

Orders for electronic products edged up 4.3, with China39;s lockdowns deepening the supply and demand imbalance, the ministry said.

Growth in the past two years or so had been supported by booming tech demand fuelled by the work and study from home trend during the COVID pandemic, as well as a global semiconductor shortage that has filled Taiwanese chip makers39; order books.

The ministry said it expects export orders in May to be in a range of a fall of 1.1 and an expansion of 1.7 from a year earlier.

Huang Yuling, director of the ministry39;s statistics agency, said orders could return to growth in June or July, depending…