As the six initial members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have formed a zero-tariff zone with China, concern over how the ASEAN-China free trade agreement will impact Taiwan's exports has been a hot topic in Taiwan. A finance official said Thursday, however, that the impact might not be reflected in short-term trade figures. Lin Li-chen, director-general of the Department of Statistics of the Ministry of Finance said that in the first three months of this year, Taiwan's exports to the six nations -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- amounted to US$9.04 billion, up 64.4 percent from the corresponding period of last year. Meanwhile, Taiwan exported US$26.4 billion-worth of products to China in the first quarter, representing a 75.6 percent growth from the amount of the same period of the preceding year, according to government statistics. In the January-March period, exports to China accounted for 28.9 percent of Taiwan's overall export value, while exports to Hong Kong accounted for 13.8 percent and exports to the six ASEAN nations accounted for 14.6 percent. Lin said that since the ASEAN-China free trade agreement took effect only three months ago, it would not be easy to assess the impact on Taiwan's foreign trade. Many elements, such as overall economic environment and export structure, must be taken into consideration while making an analysis, she added. According to a Finance Ministry press release, continuous improving of the economic environment has helped boost Taiwan's export business, and high growth rates in two-way trade were seen mainly because of the low base for comparison. In the first quarter of this year, the export value totaled US$61.8 billion, an increase of US$21.3 billion, or 52.5 percent, over the same period of last year. Imports in the January-March period totaled US$56.9 billion, an increase of US$25 billion, or 78.4 percent, from the year-earlier level. While electronic products remained the leading foreign exchange earners, grossing US$17 billion in the first quarter of this year, other major export items were metal products, optical equipment, plastic products, chemical products, machinery and textiles, as well as information and telecommunications products. 