TAIPEI, May 21 (AFP) - Taiwan's export orders rose 3.39 percent year-on-year to 39.58 billion US dollars in the four months to April due to strong demand for electronic and information products, the economic ministry said Friday. In April alone, orders placed by foreign buyers totalled 10.56 billion dollars, up 5.46 percent from a year ago, the ministry said. It expects exports in the first half of the year to rise more than five percent from a year earlier, said Chang Yao-tsung, the ministry's statistics department director. "We expect steady export order inflows in the first half on the back of a regional economic recovery and rising demand for information technology and electronics products," Chang said. Local manufacturers received 7.03 billion dollars worth of orders for information and communication goods in the four-month period, up 4.16 percent year-on-year. Demand for electronic products grew 8.28 percent to 6.53 billion dollars. "The growth in exports would be the driving force in pushing Taiwan's economic recovery," said Nicole Rau, senior analyst with Dresdner RCM Global Investors' Securities Investment Consulting Corp. Exports account for about 50 percent of the island's Gross Domestic Product growth. "There is plenty of room for more exports to Asia as outward shippments to the region remained relatively low," said Jean Kao of the International Investment Trust Company. The ministry's data showed Taiwan's industrial output moved up 5.78 percent year-on-year in the first four months. It expects industrial output in the first half of the year to expand to near 5.0 percent, Chang said. April's industrial output rose 6.42 percent year-on-year but was down 2.21 percent from the previous month. The United States remained the island's largest export market, ordering 13.33 billion dollars worth of products in January-April, up 5.24 percent. Europe came in second with 7.12 billion dollars, down 0.53 percent. Orders from Hong Kong, the main conduit of indirect trade between Taiwan and China, rose 4.9 percent to 6.83 billion dollars.  