Taipei - Taiwan's September exports suffered their largest decline in six years due to the global recession, the Taiwan Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

In September, Taiwan's exports totalled 21.85 billion US dollars, down 1.6 per cent year on year, the biggest fall since April 2004.

The biggest decline was in exports to China and Hong Kong, which fell 16.3 per cent year on year. China and HK together account for 35 per cent of Taiwan's export.

Miss Lin Li-chen, statistics chief at the ministry, said that the global recession had affected China, which in turn hurt China's demand for Taiwan goods.

But the ministry remains optimistic that Taiwan can reach the goal of a 10-billion-US-dollar trade surplus for the whole year, because Taiwan's January-September exports hit 400.9 billion US dollars, up 17.8 per cent year on year, with an 8.1-billion-US-dollar surplus.

The news came as Economics Minister Yin Chi-ming said Tuesday that 15 foreign firms would invest between 150 million and 200 million US dollars in the island.

The 15 foreign firms include: China's e-commerce company Alibaba. com; Germany's Bayer AG, Siemens AG and Audi; as well as Corning Inc and Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co of the United States. (dpa)