Business and Finance

Taiwan’s Chunghwa Picture Tubes to resume production at Taoyuan factories

The company announced Thursday that the LCD display factories will resume production within days

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/20
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Chunghwa Picture Tubes chip for display panels (By Wikimedia Commons)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Following the sudden shutdown of two Chunghwa Picture Tube factoriesin Taoyuan last weekend, the company has optimistically announced that production will resume within the next few days

On Dec. 20, a report from Apple Daily said that the factories would reach normal production levels by Dec. 24. The company has since issued a follow-up statement Thursday morning, stating that limited production of display panels would resume within the next 48 hours, and would quickly be back to normal levels.

After a court order to repay an outstanding loan on Dec. 13, the company abruptly suspended production at the Longtan and Yangmei factory locations in Taoyuan on Dec. 15 to formulate a plan for financial restructuring.

Reports said that nearly 1,000 employees in Taiwan who showed up for work on Saturday Dec. 15 were shocked by the shutdown and left wondering about their future employment.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan shares close down 1.11%

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/20
By: Y.F. Low 

Taipei, Dec. 20 (CNA) Taiwan shares closed down 108.69 points, or 1.11 percent, at 9,674.52 Thursday on turnover of NT$93.63 billion (US$3.04 billion).     [SOURCE]

Central bank keeps rates unchanged

HOLDING STEADY: The central bank governor dismissed criticism that the bank did nothing to stem capital flight after US Fed rate hikes, citing higher dividend payouts

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 21, 2018
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The central bank yesterday kept policy rates unchanged for the 10th consecutive

Central bank Governor Yang Chin-long, left, speaks as Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong listens during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuab in Taipei on Dec. 6.  Photo: CNA

quarter, saying that a global economic slowdown and the US-China trade dispute merited a lenient policy.

The monetary policymaker trimmed its GDP growth forecast for this year to 2.68 percent from the 2.7 percent it predicted in September, and is anticipating a 2.33 percent pickup next year.

“The domestic stock rout has taken a toll on consumer spending, while economic weakness in major trading partners might dampen external demand,” central bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a news conference after the bank’s quarterly board meeting.

Against this backdrop, the board unanimously agreed to hold the rediscount rate steady at 1.375 percent, the collateralized loan rate at 1.75 percent and the unsecured loan rate at 3.625 percent.    [FULL  STORY]

MOF Considering Removing Tax Exemption for Importing Small Online Purchases

ICRT Radio International
Daate: 2018-12-19

The finance ministry is considering removing a tax exemption for small online
purchases imported into Taiwan.

Currently, people importing anything with a value less than $2-thousand NT do
not have to pay customs duties, goods taxes, or sales taxes for a maximum of
6 purchases within a 6-month period.

But Finance Minister Su Jian-rong says they are now looking at the
possibility of eliminating that threshold altogether, to bring Taiwan
practices in line with other countries and to promote fair competition for
local and international companies.

According to an ET Today report, the government could also move to
consolidate these three taxes into a single simple import tax.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s SYM inks e-scooter MOU with CPC Corp

SYM to manufacture electric scooters using CPC’s battery system

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/12/19
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Wu Ching-yuan, left, with Tai Chein. (Image from CPC Corp.)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese motorcycle company Sanyang Motor Co. (SYM, 三陽工業) inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp. to solidify joint development of electric scooters on Dec. 18.

SYM will design and manufacture electric scooters using battery technology developed by CPC Corp, and CPC will be responsible for the battery charging and replacement network.

The MOU was signed by CPC Corp. Chairman Tai Chein (戴謙) and SYM Chairman Wu Ching-yuan (吳清源) during an event in Taipei.

The partnership was first announced at the Milan Motorcycle Show in Italy on Nov. 6. At that time, Wu said the partnership will cater to market trends, and suggested the move will cause the least disruption to motorists, who are familiar with the location of CPC stations across Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

KKR promises not to list LCY Chemical in China, Hong Kong

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/19
By: Liao Yu-yang and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Dec. 19 (CNA) American investment firm KKR & Co. has promised not to list LCY Chemical Corp. in China or Hong Kong as a precondition for approval of its acquisition of the Taiwan-based chemical company.

Taiwan’s Investment Commission issued the green light for the acquisition on Tuesday after KKR pledged not to take LCY Chemical public in China or Hong Kong, according to Yang Shu-ling (楊淑玲), a spokesperson of the commission under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

LCY Chemical said after hearing that the acquisition had been approved that its stock will be delisted at the end of January, but it has said previously that it planned to list again within five years after delisting.

The sale was first announced in July, when the company said KKR would buy all outstanding LCY Chemical shares for NT$47.8 billion (US$1.55 billion), or NT$56 per share, through KKR’s Luxembourg-based unit LuxCo.
[FULL  STORY]

FSC tightens rules on China exposure

CONTAINING RISKS: The commission has a stricter bad-debt provisioning ratio for loans to the Chinese market, amid concern over financial contagion from China

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 20, 2018
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday said that while the commission has detected signs pointing to potential financial risk in China, it has tightened its regulations to limit local lenders’ exposure.

Taiwan Research Institute (台灣綜合研究院) founder Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) on Tuesday said that Taiwan would next year be threatened by contagion risk from a financial crisis originating in China, which could drag the TAIEX to as low as 6,000 points.

“Although the potential financial crisis in China is concerning, given that Beijing has implemented several new measures to stabilize the market, we do not see any storm ahead,” Koo told the Taipei Times on the sidelines of a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee.

However, the commission has asked any lender whose exposure to China exceeded 80 percent of its net worth to pay more attention to their credit extensions, Koo said.    [FULL  STORY]

StarLux Airlines opens extensive recruitment in preparation for first launch by 2020

StarLux Airlines (星宇航空) is going to recruit 200 employees for various professions in the first half of 2019

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/18
By Alicia Nguyen,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

image from official websites of StarLux Airlines

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s latest registered air carrier, StarLux Airlines (星宇航空), announced on Dec. 18 that it is opening an extensive recruitment for 200 vacancies in various positions.

Founded in 2016 by the former EVA Airways Chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒), StarLux Airlines is stepping up to finish the essential operation teams before it inaugurates commercial flight services by 2020.

In the recruitment ads, the airline company said it was looking for 200 professionals to fill out different teams such as air cargo management, customer services, membership center, and ground services.

Additionally, the company is noticeably looking for several professionals with backgrounds in business intelligence, including BI engineer, data analyst, data engineer, customer insight analyst, and so forth.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan fab equipment spending forecast to grow over 24% in 2019

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/18
By: Chung Jung-feng and Frances Huang

Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) Taiwan’s spending in fab equipment for the semiconductor sector is

Image taken from Pixabay

expected to grow more than 24 percent from a year earlier in 2019, according to a research report released by global industrial association SEMI Tuesday.

In the report, SEMI said Taiwan’s fab equipment spending is expected to hit US$11.44 billion in 2019, up 24.2 percent from 2018.

The growth expected for Taiwan bucks a year-on-year 7.8 percent decline expected for global fab equipment investment for next year, SEMI said.

Despite the decline in overall global fab investment, equipment spending for pure foundry operators is expected to grow 10 percent to US$13 billion worldwide in 2019.
[FULL  STORY]

Sanyang, CPC venture into EV sector

‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Electric batteries are crucial for success in the electric-vehicle sector, Sanyang chairman Wu Chin-yuan said, adding that they require considerable investment

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 19, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Vehicle and motorcycle maker Sanyang Motor Co Ltd (三陽工業) yesterday said it would team up with state-run refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 中油) to build a profitable electric-vehicle (EV) business.

Sanyang Motor would adopt fast-charging batteries developed by CPC for its new electric scooters to complement its own electric battery solutions, according to a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

That would pave the way for the automaker to launch its first electric scooters at the end of next year, the MOU said.

CPC said its long-term investment in fast-charging batteries for electric vehicles would bear fruit.   [FULL  STORY]