Business and Finance

China slaps anti-dumping tariffs on chemicals from Taiwan, others

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/03
By: Chiu Kuo-chiang and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Sept. 3 (CNA) China has imposed provisional anti-dumping tariffs on butyl alcohol imported from Taiwan, Malaysia and the United States after it found exporters from the three sold their products at unfairly low prices in the Chinese market, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Monday.

In a statement, the MOEA said China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued a preliminary ruling about the investigation into alleged unfair practices, finding that imports of butyl alcohol from the three has caused material damage to Chinese makers of butyl alcohol.

Citing the ruling, the MOEA said Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp., which was the mandatory respondent in the case, faces a provisional anti-dumping tariff of 6 percent, while other Taiwanese butyl alcohol exporters face a duty of 56.1 percent.

According to the ruling, U.S. butyl alcohol firms have been slapped with provisional anti-dumping duties ranging from 52.3 percent to 139.8 percent, while the financial burden faced by exporters from Malaysia is 12.7-26.7 percent.    [FULL  STORY]

Manufacturing PMI inches down to 56

NON-MANUFACTURING MEASURE: The NMI last month shed 4.4 points from July, but stayed above 50, as companies expressed a dim view of the next six months

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 04, 2018
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) was 56 last month, down from 56.1 in July, suggesting continued improvement in operating conditions, although the pace has probably plateaued, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.

While it has been in expansion territory for the past 29 months, the critical economic bellwether eased to its lowest level in 19 months as tariff rows raised uncertainty over the global economy, the Taipei-based think tank said.

“The global scene grows increasingly opaque, but might continue to expand for the rest of the year,” CIER president Wu Chung-shu (吳中書) told a media briefing.

PMI data aim to gauge the health of the local manufacturing industry, Taiwan’s main growth driver, with values larger than 50 indicating expansion and values below the threshold signaling contraction.    [FULL  STORY]

Dining out increasing household consumption trend in Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/09/02
By:  Central News Agency

(By Central News Agency)

Taipei, Sept. 2 (CNA) More and more people in Taiwan do not spend time in the kitchen but eat at foodstalls and restaurants, according to the latest government data on household expenditure indicating that spending in restaurants and hotels rose to a historic high in 2017.

Such spending accounted for 12 percent of all household expenditure last year, the highest since 1976, when spending in restaurants and hotels was a mere 2.48 percent, statistics released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) in August show.

The 12 percent represents about NT$97,000 (US$3,158) in terms of the average sum spent by every household in restaurants and hotels last year, according to DGBAS officials.

In 2017, each household in the country spent an average NT$812,000 annually, most of which went on housing, electricity, water, gas and other fuels, accounting for 23.9 percent of the total, the statistics show.
Expenditure in food, beverages and tobacco was the second-highest at 15.6 percent, followed by healthcare at 15.25 percent, transport and communication at 12.87 percent, and recreation, culture and education at 9.55 percent.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei households spend most nationwide on public transport

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/02
By: Pan Tzu-yu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 2 (CNA) Households in Taipei spend an average of NT$24,000 (US$781)

CNA file photo

per year on public transport, more than twice the national average, due to the convenient transport network in the city, according to statistics released Sunday by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

The average annual expenditure per household in Taiwan for 2017 was NT$812,000, with Taipei posting the highest average annual household expenditure at NT$1.08 million, followed by Taoyuan’s NT$880,000, according to the 2017 statistics on family income and expenditure in Taiwan.

In addition, families in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, also spent the most on public transport, clothing and recreation, compared with any other cities or counties around the country.

Last year, the average household expenditure for public transport in Taipei was NT$24,000, more than twice the national average of NT$10,000, due mainly to the effectiveness of the public transport system.    [FULL  STORY]

Wafers to reach new high in 2019: MIC

NATIONAL TREASURE: TSMC would be able to reinforce its global lead, as US-based Globalfoundries has stopped development of 7-nanometer processors, analysts said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 03, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The production value of Taiwan’s wafer foundry industry is expected to grow 8 to 10 percent year-on-year next year due to efforts by manufacturers to develop high-end technology, the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC, 產業情報研究所) said.

Next year’s expected growth rate would beat this year’s estimated rate of 6.4 percent, the institute said, adding that next year’s production value is forecast to total almost NT$1.2 trillion (US$39.05 billion).

Taiwan’s wafer foundry industry is leading its peers in the global market in the development of advanced 7-nanometer processors, which is expected to boost its share of orders for application processors to be used in high-end smartphones, sophisticated graphics processors and chips used for artificial intelligence, it said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, has begun producing chips using the 7-nanometer process.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s wafer foundry industry output forecast to grow 8-10% in 2019

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/09/01
By:  Central News Agency

The production value of Taiwan’s wafer foundry industry is expected to grow 8-10 percent

Taiwan’s semiconductor industry set for more growth. (photo by Paolo Neo) (By Wikimedia Commons)

from a year earlier in 2019 due to manufacturers’ efforts in developing high-end technology, according to the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC).

The MIC, a research division of the Taipei-based government-sponsored Institute for Information Industry, said the expected 2019 growth rate will beat an estimated 6.4 percent for 2018.

In 2018, the production value of Taiwan’s wafer foundry business is forecast to hit almost NT$1.2 trillion (US$39 billion), according to the MIC.

It said the local wafer foundry industry has taken the lead over its peers in the global market in the advanced 7 nanometer processor development, and such efforts are expected to help the industry secure orders for application processors from high-end smartphone brands, sophisticated graphics processing units as well as chips used in artificial intelligence.    [FULL  STORY]

Taoyuan airport-Taipei connection ranked fourth-fastest in Asia

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/01
By: Chen Wei-ting and Lee Hsin-Yin 

Taipei, Sept. 1 (CNA) Taiwan has been ranked fourth-fastest in Asia in terms of traffic connection between a country’s major airport and commercial district, according to Klook, a Hong Kong-based travel booking platform.

It takes 1.2 minutes per kilometer from the mass rapid transit (MRT) Taipei City Hall Station to the Taipei Main Station for transit via the airport MRT line to the check-in counters at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 1, Klook said Friday.

Malaysia tops the list with 0.53 minutes per kilometer from downtown to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, followed by South Korea, where it takes 0.9 minutes per kilometer to Incheon Airport.

Hong Kong is ranked third, with an Airport Express train taking 1.18 minutes per kilometer to travel to the Hong Kong International Airport, Klook said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Supreme Court confirms jail term of 39 years and 2 months for socialite in drug-rape scandal

No appeals are possible against Thursday’s decision

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/08/30
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an appeal against a

Justin Lee during one of his previous court appearances. (By Central News Agency)

prison sentence of 39 years and two months for socialite Justin Lee (李宗瑞) for sexually assaulting nine women.

Lee, 33, the son of a senior banking executive, was convicted by the Taiwan High Court of sexual assault and of filming sex acts with 20 women without their consent. The facts occurred from 2009 to 2011, when Lee would meet women at top nightclubs in Taipei, spike their drinks with drugs, and take them back home to rape them while they were unconscious, reports said.

The nine sexual assaults led to jail terms ranging from four years and 10 months to five years and two months per incident, the Central News Agency reported. According to Taiwan’s legal practice, Lee will have to serve a minimum of 30 years in prison. No appeals are possible against Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling.

During the court proceedings, he admitted to having filmed the women without their consent, but he argued that the sex was consensual and had occurred while the women were conscious, which investigators concluded was not true.

The impact of one of Taiwan’s biggest sex scandals was made even worse when during the investigations, some of Lee’s videos leaked online.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to review visa-free treatment for New Southbound countries

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/30
By: Lu Hsin-hui and William Yen

Image taken from Pixabay

Taipei, Aug. 30 (CNA) A meeting is to be convened Friday to review the visa free policy for a number of countries covered by the New Southbound Policy (NSP), an Executive Yuan official said Thursday.

Minister without Portfolio Chang Jing-sen (張景森) said the meeting will also discuss whether to offer visa-free treatment to more countries and related issues including crime prevention.

Minister without Portfolio Chang Jing-sen (張景森) / CNA file photo

There have been notable increases in the number of visitors from Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines since visa-free treatment was granted, Chang said.

Taiwan introduced visa-free treatment for Thai and Bruneian nationals on a trial basis in August 2016 and extended it last year to July 31, 2018, while the visa-free trial program for the Philippines began on Nov. 1 last year and ran through July 31.    [FULL  STORY]

CPT counting on automotive displays

TOUCH TAIWAN SHOWCASE: Company president Lin Sheng-chang said that there would be more and bigger displays with the advance of electric and autonomous cars

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 31, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

LCD panelmaker Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (CPT, 中華映管) yesterday showcased a series of new automotive displays, including some with advanced miniLED backlights, in an effort to boost sales of displays that deliver higher margins and longer product lifecycles.

The Taoyuan-based company has identified automotive displays as its key growth driver amid a downturn in smartphone display shipments as growth of unit sales diminishes worldwide.

The automotive display market “is to grow fast, at a double-digit percent rate each year over next few years” by unit shipment, CPT president Lin Sheng-chang (林盛昌) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan Display International Exhibition at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.

Vehicles come equipped with three to five displays, two on the headrests for back-seat passengers, one cluster display, one on the dashboard and a heads-up display, Lin said.
[FULL  STORY]