Taiwan's export orders likely shrank again in December - Reuters poll

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's export orders are expected to have contracted again in December, a Reuters poll showed, amid concerns that a global economic slowdown is hurting the island's pivotal exports.

The median forecast of 11 economists in a Reuters poll was for December export orders to decline 3.20 percent from a year earlier.

In November, orders fell 2.1 percent compared with the same month of 2017.

The economists' forecasts for December ranged widely, from a contraction of 7 percent to an increase of 1.3 percent.

Taiwan's export orders are a leading indicator of demand for Asia's exports and for hi-tech gadgets, and typically lead actual exports by two to three months.

(Reporting by Carol Lee; Editing by Richard Borsuk)