Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/26
By: Wei Shu and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Jan. 26 (CNA) Prices of newly built homes and pre-sale projects in cities and counties in northern Taiwan generally moved slightly higher in the fourth quarter, indicating a stable property market in these areas, according to real estate magazine My Housing.

Data compiled by the magazine covered the northern Taiwan cities of Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Keelung, and Hsinchu and the counties of Hsinchu and Yilan, which account for more than 50 percent of the total residential and commercial property transactions in the country.

Home prices in Taipei, the most closely watched property market in Taiwan, averaged NT$851,000 (US$27,630) per ping (one ping equals 3.3 square meters) in the fourth quarter, up 2.28 percent from a quarter earlier and also up 2.16 percent from a year earlier.

Ho Shih-chang (何世昌), a research manager at the magazine, said in a statement that it was the first year-on-year growth in home prices in Taiwan since the second half of 2014.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/25
By: Y.F. Low 

Taipei, Jan. 25 (CNA) Taiwan shares closed up 92.49 points, or 0.94 percent, at 9,969.61 Friday on turnover of NT$111.7 billion (US$3.81 billion).     [SOURCE]

TAITRA Smart Trade Assistant, an interactive app created to conveniently help buyers find Taiwan products online, was demonstrated

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/24
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said during a press conference that it will focus on the fastest growing international markets, especially Southeast Asia, China, and Africa, in its effort to help Taiwan’s enterprises promote and sell their products overseas.

As the economies of Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy target-countries in Southeast Asia continue to grow faster than the world average, TAITRA will build on past success and continue to develop markets for Taiwan’s national teams in the fields of electric vehicles, public construction, medicine, and smart city, in addition to holding Taiwan Expo shows, in the region.

TAITRA said that it held a total of nine Taiwan Expo shows in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia in the past two years, attracting a total of 1,600 exhibitors and 210,000 visitors, creating more than US$630 million worth of business deals.

TAITRA chairman James Huang (黃志芳) said that TAITRA will hold Taiwan Expo shows in second-tier cities in the region this year, including Indonesia’s Surabaya, the Philippines’ Davao, Vietnam’s Hanoi, and Malaysia’s Penang.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/24
By: Liao Yu-yang and Chung Yu-chen

Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) The price of natural gas will remain flat in February, while gasoline prices will be lowered in the week starting Jan. 27 to help stabilize commodity prices during the Lunar New Year holiday, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said Thursday.

State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan normally calculates its weekly fuel prices based on a weighted oil price formula made up of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude.    [FULL  STORY]

Fortune magazine released its annual ranking of the ‘World’s Most Admired Companies’ this week

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/23
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese businesses Asustek Computers and Taiwan Semiconductors (TSMC) have been recognized by Fortune Magazine index of the “World ‘s Most Admired Companies” for the 2019 ranking.

Asus was ranked as the fifth most admired company in the global computer manufacturing industry, up two spots from its previous rank as number seven. TSMC maintained its number two spot in the global semiconductor industry for a second year in a row.

The yearly index ranks global firms within their industries according to innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment value, quality of products and services, and global competitiveness.

In the “computers” industry the only four companies ahead of Asus were Apple, Dell, HP, and Canon. Meanwhile in the “Semiconductors” industry, only Nividia was ranked above TSMC globally.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/23
By: Wu Chia-hao and Chi Jo-yao

Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) Google announced Wednesday it has agreed to purchase the output of a 10-megawatt solar array in southern Taiwan — the company’s first ever renewable energy project in Asia — making it the first non-utility corporate purchaser of green power in Taiwan.

The output purchased will be generated from about 40,000 solar panels in Tainan City, located 100 kilometers south of Google’s data center in Changhua County, central Taiwan, but connected to the same regional power grid, according to Google’s statement released Tuesday.

The renewable energy project in Tainan will install poles in commercial fishing ponds to elevate solar panels, which will maximize land-use efficiency. In addition, local aquaculture operators will be compensated for hosting the solar panels, the company said.

Google added that the project is a joint effort among energy developers, including Diode Ventures, Taiyen Green Energy, and New Green Power of Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

The company is reportedly planning steep cuts in expenses in 2019, as they begins shift towards automation

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/22
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Foxconn corporation may be suffering as a result of the ongoing U.S.-China trade conflict, with reports that nearly 50,000 people working for the company were laid off in China as a result of poor iPhone sales.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the company has reportedly failed to meet its requisite quota for job creation in the state of Wisconsin, and will not qualify for any state tax incentives there for the 2018 fiscal year.

Since October 2018, Foxconn has laid off over 50,000 people at their plant in Henan. The high number of lay-offs was initially a matter of speculation, but it was indirectly confirmed on Jan. 21 by a spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics of China, reports China Times.

Nikkei News which originally reported the lay-offs in early October said that Foxconn was planning to cut their work force in China by as many as 100,000.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/22
By: Liao Yu-yang and Frances Huang

Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Tuesday it aims to finalize the 2019 feed-in tariff (FIT) rate for the offshore wind power industry in Taiwan ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Although local media reported the 2019 FIT rate will be NT$5.35-NT$5.45 per kilowatt hour (kWh), the Bureau of Energy (BOE) under the MOEA told the press no determination has yet been made and the bureau plans to finalize the figure before the start of the nine-day holiday on Feb. 2.

On Nov. 29, the MOEA announced a proposal to set the FIT rate for 2019 at NT$5.1 per kWh, down 12.71 percent from NT$5.8 per kWh in 2018, though it emphasized the figure was not final.

The BOE has solicited opinions from the industry about the FIT rate proposal with a deadline for submissions set for Jan. 29.    [FULL  STORY]