Exports last month were down 17.1% by value from a year earlier at $31.05 billion, the lowest level in nearly 24 months, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday.
The data improved from a 21.2% annual drop seen in January, but lagged a Reuters poll forecast for a 14% contraction.
"Due to weak terminal demand, the momentum of global economic growth has weakened," the ministry said, though it added that now is traditionally the low season for exports.
Taiwan's total shipments of electronics components in February fell 17.8% from a year before to $12.94 billion, with semiconductor exports down 17.3%.
Firms such as TSMC,, the world's largest contract chipmaker, are major suppliers to Apple Inc and other global tech giants, as well as providers of chips for auto companies and lower-end consumer goods.
Smaller rival United Microelectronics Corp reported on Monday that its February sales had sunk 18.6% from a year before.
At $11.0 billion in February, Taiwan's exports to China, the island's largest trading partner, were down 30.2%, after showing a 33.5% annual drop in the previous month.
The finance ministry said global inflation and ongoing tightening of monetary policy in major economies would continue to weigh on external demand, coupled with other risks such as the war in Ukraine and China-U.S. trade tensions.
"The international economic outlook is conservative, and our exports will still be under considerable pressure in the first half of the year," it said, predicting that March exports could be 16% to 19.5% lower than a year earlier.
February's exports to the United States slipped 13.7%, after falling an annual 14.5% in the prior month.
Taiwan's February imports, often seen as a leading indicator of re-exports of finished products, fell 9.4% to $28.7 billion, also a nearly 24-month low. That compared with economists' forecast of a 9.8% fall and a 16.6% decline in January.
(Reporting by Roger Tung and Faith Hung; Editing by Bradley Perrett and Ben Blanchard)
