(File photo: VCG)

TAIPEI, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Export orders to companies in Taiwan fell for the ninth consecutive month in July from the same period last year, the latest data showed Tuesday.

Export orders to Taiwan's firms lost 3 percent from a year earlier to 40.53 billion U.S. dollars last month, according to data released by the island's economic affairs authority.

For the first seven months, Taiwan's export orders dropped 6 percent year on year to 263.39 billion U.S. dollars.

Month on month, the export orders in July increased 5.3 percent from June.