TAIPEI -- Taiwan's export orders rose to 37.66 billion U.S. dollars in September, growing by 1.9 percent over the same period last year, according to statistics released on Friday by the island's economic authorities.

Compared with August, Taiwan's export orders rose by a seasonally adjusted 3.9 percent in September.

Export orders, which track shipments for the following one to three months, act as a key barometer of overall economic health.

Among Taiwan's major export items, orders for precision instruments rose 12.5 percent over the same period last year. Machinery and electronic products also rose by 5.8 percent and 2.2 percent respectively.

However, export orders for basic metals, chemicals, and plastic and rubber products declined by 8.9 percent, 4.9 percent and 3.8 percent respectively.

Orders for telecommunications products and electrical machines also declined slightly.

Among Taiwan's major trading partners, orders from the six southeast Asian countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei) rose 13.7 percent over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, orders from the United States, the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, rose 9.2 percent and 4.8 percent respectively.

But orders from Japanand Europe declined 8.3 percent and 5.6 percent respectively.

In the first nine months of this year, Taiwan's export orders stood at 322.51 billion U.S. dollars, marking a 1.1-percent decline from the same period in 2011.

The island's economic authorities orders to rise in the fourth quarter as global consumer electronics giants will roll out more new smart phones and tablet computers and consumers in the United States and Europe will buy more gadgets during the Christmas holiday shopping season.

But they added that the market still faces many uncertainties given the weak global personal computer market.