Business and Finance

Taiwan-based EVA trying to arrange flights for 105,700 customers as strike drags on

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/23
By:  Central News Agency

An ongoing strike by flight attendants of EVA Air will result in the cancelation of 911 flights June 24-28, which will affect more than 100,000 of its passengers who had previous bookings for that period, the Taiwanese carrier said Sunday.

The airline said it will be able to maintain its transportation capacity at about 40 percent over the next five days, but had stopped accepting new bookings since June 21 in order to provide service to the 105,700 customers who had booked flights prior to the June 20 strike to travel in the period June 24-28.

The airline said it will put some of the passengers on its flights that are still in operation and will try to find alternative flights on other airlines for other customers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said it hoped the matter could be resolved before June 29, when the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union is scheduled to hold a vote on whether to continue the strike.    [FULL  STORY]

Fuel prices to increase by NT$0.20 this week

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/23
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Emerson Lim

Taipei, June 23 (CNA) Taiwan's two major fuel suppliers on Sunday announced small hikes in fuel prices for this week, citing an increase in global crude prices due to tensions in the Middle East.

The state-run oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan said it will raise its gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.20 per liter, starting midnight Sunday.

With the adjustment, retail prices at CPC gas stations will be NT$27.20 (US$0.87) per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$28.70 per liter for 95 octane unleaded, NT$30.70 per liter for 98 octane unleaded, and NT$25.10 per liter for super diesel.

The price of crude rose US$0.89 last week to US$62.35 per barrel, said CPC, which calculates it fuel prices based on a weighted oil price formula composed of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude.    [FULL  STORY]

ARM to expand investments in Taiwan

HELPING HAND: ARM owner Masayoshi Son said that the firm would invest in the Internet of Things and autonomous vehicles, and hire researchers and engineers

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 24, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Chip designer ARM Holdings PLC, which has close ties to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co

Softbank Group Corp founder Masayoshi Son speaks during the G2 and Beyond forum organized by the Digitimes in Taipei on Saturday.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP

(TSMC, 台積電), plans to increase its investments in Taiwan, owner Masayoshi Son said on Saturday.

The Japanese billionaire and founder of Softbank Group Corp said that he wants to relist ARM within five years, reintroducing stock markets to the British chipmaker that his company bought for US$32 billion in 2016.

Softbank has not yet decided where the public offering would be held, Son told a technology forum in Taipei.

In his first public speech in Taiwan, Son said that artificial intelligence (AI) and the information revolution represent the biggest shift in human history, with AI set to dominate technology development trends and improve human lives, rather than take away jobs.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese electronics firms mulling local production for U.S. market

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/22
By: Pan Chih-yi and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 22 (CNA) Several major Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturers that have plants

Image taken from Pixabay

in China said recently that they are considering setting up production facilities in Taiwan to supply the United States market, in a bid to avoid U.S. tariffs on China-made products and other trade disputes between the two countries.

Speaking with the press, Pegatron Corp. CEO Liao Syh-jang (廖賜政) said the company is thinking of using a plant in Hsinchu specifically for shipments to the U.S. if the Beijing-Washington trade issues are not resolved.

Pegatron, a PC contract manufacturer that also assembles iPhones, said it had planned to use one of its plants in New Taipei and another in Taoyuan to make products for the U.S. market, but is now considering a new facility in Hsinchu that will concentrate on value-added items with higher profit margins.

Since January, Pegatron has been manufacturing information and communications products for the American market at its plant in Batam, Indonesia, and those shipments are expected to increase in the second half of the year, Liao said.    [FULL  STORY]

Semiconductors help TAIEX edge up

LIQUIDITY: One expert said that continued fund inflows amid a strong NT dollar reflected hopes that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later in the year

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 23, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA and AFP

Local shares on Friday closed slightly higher as gains posted by semiconductor stocks offset losses suffered by other tech stocks and non-tech stocks during the session, dealers said.

The main board extended its gains from the previous few sessions to end above 10,800 points on the back of hopes that the US Federal Reserve would cut its key interest rates in the second half of this year, which is expected to boost liquidity levels in the global market, they said.

However, market sentiment was affected to some extent by geopolitical concerns after Iran shot down an uncrewed US surveillance drone on Thursday, they added.

The TAIEX on Friday closed up 18.76 points, or 0.17 percent, at 10,803.77, after moving between 10,773.47 and 10,840.29, on turnover of NT$148.45 billion (US$4.77 billion). That was an increase of 2.7 percent from a close of 10,524.57 on June 14.    [FULL  STORY]

VIDEO: EVA Air president apologizes for delays due to strike

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 21 June, 2019
By: Leslie Liao

EVA Air management team bows in apology for delays

EVA Air management team bows in apology for delays[/caption]EVA Air management team bows in apology for delays[/caption]EVA Air management team bows in apology for delays[/caption] Flight attendants at Taiwanese carrier EVA Air have gone on strike. Since the strike began Thursday, the airline has been forced to delay or cancel many scheduled flights. Top management at the airline has held a press conference to apologize for the inconvenience to customers.

EVA Air President Clay Sun took an apologetic tone after the announcement that a flight attendants’ strike would disrupt flights. At a press conference, Sun stood alongside other senior figures in the company and gave a bow.

The deputy senior vice president at the company’s operations management department said that only 14 of 36 flights scheduled for the first day of the strike would operate. All of Taiwan’s major airports will be affected.

Travel agents are scrambling to do what they can for stranded customers. Travel Agent Lin Cheng-ye says his company is trying its best to bring travelers home or arrange accommodation.
[FULL  STORY]

Orsted secures NT$25 billion green revolving loan in Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/21
By:  Central News Agency

(Photo/Pixabay)

Orsted, a Danish energy developer, has secured a NT$25 billion (US$806 million) syndicated green revolving loan facility for its offshore wind farm projects off the coast of Changhua County, central Taiwan.

Orsted, one of the companies to receive a permit from the Taiwan government earlier this year to develop offshore wind power, signed an agreement with 15 banks in Taiwan Thursday to secure the five year syndicated loan.

Under the syndicated loan agreement, Bank of Taiwan, the largest lender in the country, as well as Cathay United Bank and BNP Paribas will serve as the mandated lead arrangers for the loan facility.

Each of the lead arrangers will loan NT$3 billion to Orsted, while the other 12 banks will share the remaining loan, according to the agreement.    [FULL  STORY]

Pegatron plans local production boost

LONG-TERM OPTIMISM: Pegatron’s chairman was quoted as saying that as costs in China would inevitably go up, firms would exit even without the US-China trade war

Taipei T&imes
Date: Jun 22, 2019
By: Natasha Li  /  Staff reporter

Pegatron Corp (和碩), an assembler of Apple Inc iPhones, yesterday said that it plans to significantly boost production in Taiwan to cope with expected US-China trade issues for the next few years, but is cautiously optimistic about the second half of this year.

“We plan to triple production in Taiwan,” a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone, quoting remarks Pegatron chief executive officer Liao Syh-jang (廖賜政) made at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taipei.

Its operations outside China account for only a single-digit percentage of overall production, Liao was quoted as saying.

The firm operates three plants in Taiwan in Xinfeng Township (新豐), Hsinchu County; Guishan District (龜山), Taoyuan County; and Xindian District (新店) in New Taipei City.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s TAITRA signs business MoU with Kosovo Chamber of Commerce

TAITRA intends to cooperate with Kosovo in sectors that Taiwan is well positioned in

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/20
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAITRA president and chief executive Walter Yeh (left) on April 20 signs a MoU with Berat Rukiqi, President, Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo for more bu

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) President and Chief Executive Walter Yeh (葉明水) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday (April 20) with Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo President Berat Rukiqi that will further improve business cooperation, TAITRA said in a news release.

Kosovo, in the central Balkan Peninsula, gained independence from Serbia in 2008 and has a population of 2 million. Yeh said Kosovo still faces challenges after gaining its independence in 2008, but TAITRA is pleased to cooperate with Kosovo in sectors which Taiwan is well positioned in, such as ICT, auto parts, machinery, chemistry, and textiles.

Rukiqi said Kosovo’s demand for ICT products has been increasing every year.

Established in 1962, the Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo has 16,000 members and is one of the most influential business groups in Kosovo, according to TAITRA.    [FULL  STORY]

Export orders fall for 7th straight month in May

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/20
By: Liao Yu-yang and Evelyn Kao

CNA file photo

Taipei, June 20 (CNA) Export orders received by Taiwan-based companies fell for the seventh consecutive month in May due to the impact of trade friction between the United States and China on global economic growth, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Thursday.

Export orders in May dropped 5.8 percent from a year earlier to US$38.72 billion, after a 3.7 percent year-on-year fall in March, according to data compiled by the MOEA.

On a month-on-month basis, the May figure was up 2.8 percent but after seasonal adjustments that represented a fall of 0.2 percent, the data indicates.

In the first five months of the year, export orders were down 6.9 percent from a year earlier to US$184.36 billion, the data showed.    [FULL  STORY]