Taiwan’s exports tumbled for the eleventh straight month in July in a sign that global demand for chips is slow to recover.

Overseas shipments fell 10.4% to $38.7 billion last month compared to a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said Tuesday. That was better than an estimated 20.7% decline in a Bloomberg survey of economists, and marked an improvement from June’s 23.4% fall — the biggest contraction in 14 years.

Imports dropped 20.9% from a year earlier, following a 29.9% plunge in June. The economy’s trade balance was $8.5 billion, its highest level on record.

Home to the world’s leading chipmakers, Taiwan is facing a year-long slump in overseas appetite for technological goods — including its main product, semiconductors — worsened by slowing global economic growth.

“We see some signs that the semiconductor cycle may be troughing,” ING Groep NV economists Robert Carnell, Min Joo Kang and Nicholas Mapa wrote in a note. “That could see some moderation in the rate of decline relative to the consensus and to last month’s figures.”

Author: Chien-Hua Wan and Jennifer Creery