Taipei - Taiwan stocks plunged almost five per cent in mid-session Thursday due to the worsening global recession and a decline in the island nation's December exports.

By 12:19 pm, the TAIEX index had fallen 234.42 points, or 4.89 per cent, to 4,555.42.

Analysts blamed the fall on the continued global recession, a drop in oil prices, the overnight fall of US stocks and a record 41.9 per cent slump in Taiwan's December exports.

On Wednesday, Taiwan's Finance Ministry announced December's export figures, citing weakened demand for laptops, mobile phones and computer chips as the cause for the fall, the biggest since October 2003.

In December, Taiwan's exports to China, which account for nearly 40 per cent of all of its exports, fell by 54 per cent. The drop in exports to the United States, Europe and Japan was 23.5 per cent, 29.5 per cent, and 21.9 per cent respectively. (dpa)