TAIPEI (China Post) -- Taiwan's export orders increased more than expected in March to a record on demand for electronics from China, the island's largest overseas market.

Export orders, indicative of actual shipments in one-to- three months, climbed 12.4 percent from a year earlier after growing 8.2 percent in February, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in Taipei. Economists expected a 9.5 percent gain, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

Rising sales of personal computers and flat panels to markets in Asia and Europe may help Taiwan's economy weather a slowdown in U.S. demand. The statistics bureau last month said the government may increase its 2007 export forecast after stronger-than expected overseas shipments in the first quarter. "China will be the key driver for Taiwan's export growth this year when the U.S. is cooling down," said Joan Yang, an economist at Yuanta Core Pacific Capital Management Co. in Taipei. "Stable demand from South East Asia and Europe will also help weather the drop from the U.S."

Yang expects Taiwan's exports, which account about half of the economy, will gain 7 percent this year, beating the government's forecast for 6.2 percent growth.

The report came after close of trading on the nation's stock exchange. The TAIEX index rose 0.4 percent, the third straight gain, to 8045.01. Taiwan's currency fell 0.1 percent to NT$33.193 against the U.S. dollar.

Taiwanese exporters such as AU Optronics Corp., the world's third-largest liquid-crystal display maker, and Quanta Computer Inc., the world's biggest maker of notebook computers, reported higher sales in March. AU Optronics said sales surged 32 percent last month from a year earlier.

Orders for electronics rose 11 percent in March after climbing 7.9 percent in the previous month, today's report showed. Those for information-technology products jumped 24.6 percent after rising 22 percent in February.

Taoyuan, Taiwan based Quanta Computer said on April 10 its sales jumped 31 percent in March from a year earlier.

Taiwan, like Asian nations such as South Korea, is relying on Chinese demand to drive export growth amid a U.S. economic slowdown. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke last month told lawmakers in Washington that "uncertainties have risen" in the outlook for the U.S. economy.

Growth in export orders from the U.S. slowed to 3.6 percent in March, after rising 7.6 percent in February, the report showed. Japanese orders increased 2.9 percent after advancing 4.3 percent.

Orders from Hong Kong surged 21 percent last month after advancing 7.7 percent in February. Most Taiwan-made goods bound for China are shipped via Hong Kong because of transport restrictions between Taiwan and the mainland.

China's economy expanded 11.1 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, accelerating from the fourth quarter's growth rate of 10.4 percent. The government raised minimum wages and boosted welfare spending to stoke consumption, fueling its appetite for products from the region.

European orders increased 24 percent in March after rising 17 percent in the previous month.

Some economists said it may be too soon to say whether the pickup in export orders will be sustained. "This could be a rebound as companies delayed orders to March from February, when there were fewer working days due to Chinese New Year holidays," said Sun Mingchun, an economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in Hong Kong. "It may be too early to gauge whether the growth momentum will continue, since demand for Taiwanese goods only improved slightly in March."

Taiwan's industrial production gained 0.12 percent last month after falling a revised 3.4 percent in February, , compared with an expectation of a l percent increase in the survey of economists.