Business and Finance

Nan Ya eyes revenue gain despite spat

STIMULATE: The Formosa Plastics Group unit expects its electric material and plastics segments to see revenue increase this quarter as markets are entering peak season

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 11, 2018
By: Kuo Chia-erh  /  Staff reporter

Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), a major unit of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), yesterday said it expects revenue this quarter to grow from last quarter, despite market volatility amid an escalating US-China trade war.

“Nan Ya’s electric material and plastics segments are expected to see their revenue increase this quarter [from last year], as the markets are entering peak season,” company chairman Wu Chia-chau (吳嘉昭) told a news conference in Taipei.

The company also expects ethylene glycol prices to rebound in the second half of this year from about US$900 per tonne, supported by continuing demand for polyester in the Chinese market, Wu said.

Ethylene glycol inventories have remained low in China and restocking demand is likely to continue to stimulate sales this quarter, he added.
[FULL  STORY]

Fintech firm creates new digital currency tied to New Taiwan Dollar

Green World Fintech Services announced the ‘Taiwan Digital Token,’ a ‘Stablecoin’ based on the Ethereum block-chain network

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/09
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese company Green World Fintech

(Image from Pixabay user jaydeep_ and Wikimedia Commons)

Services announced last week, that it is introducing a new digital currency into the country’s financial markets, and one that will be pegged to the value of the New Taiwan Dollar (NTD).

The new digital currency, referred to as a stablecoin, is reportedly being created using the Ethereum network, and will be called the Taiwan Digital Token (TWDT). According to reports, the value of the currency will be calculated according the NTD market, and traded according to the standardized digital rule set known as ERC20.

ERC stands for “Ethereum Request for Comments” and “20” is a proposal ID number. The term signifies a standardized protocol that allows digital currencies to interact with each other, and thereby be traded, sent, or received.    [FULL  STORY]

Trade war to force Taiwanese firms to shift production: businessman

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/09
By: Miao Zong-han and Flor Wang

Beijing, July 9 (CNA) China-based Taiwanese exporters who ship products

Image taken from Pixabay

to the United States will shift their production to Southeast Asia as Washington and Beijing engage in a trade war, a Taiwanese businessman said Monday.

“No one knows which side will suffer the most until the last minute, but Taiwanese businessmen operating in China will unavoidably be affected by the ongoing trade war,” Chang Chi-cheng (章啓正), chairman of the Taiwan Businessmen Association Beijing, told CNA.

“They have no other choice but to face reality by shifting production to their bases in Southeast Asian countries,” he said.

According to Chang, many China-based Taiwanese businesspeople have also set up manufacturing facilities in those countries as a hedge and will need to produce U.S.-bound goods there to avoid the higher tariffs imposed on some Chinese exports.    [FULL  STORY]

EHS seeks to list HK e-commerce unit

CRITICAL MASS: As foreign Web shops are gaining territory in Taiwan, the company said it plans to break into the Chinese and other Asian markets in search of scale advantages

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 10, 2018
By: Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter

Eastern Home Shopping & Leisure Co Ltd (EHS, 東森購物) yesterday announced plans to list its newly acquired cross-border e-commerce unit in Hong Kong to finance expansion into more Asian markets.

The company is planning a the listing in the second half of next year for Strawberry Cosmetics Holdings Ltd BVI, which operates Strawberrynet.com, an online store that says it serves 210 countries and supports 36 languages.

An initial public offering in Hong Kong would allow for greater fundraising flexibility to back ventures into the Chinese and other Asian markets, said Gary Wang (王令麟), chairman of Eastern Media Group (東森集團), the parent company of EHS.

Wang said he aims to build a vertically integrated e-commerce supply chain centering on Strawberrynet’s global network of suppliers and vendors to break into the Chinese market.    [FULL  STORY]

Microsoft opens flagship Surface store in Taipei

The flagship will sell all Surface products, Xbox consoles and gaming accessories

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/08
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Microsoft opened a flagship store in Taipei on July 6,

Microsoft Surface flagship in Taipei. (By Central News Agency)

showcasing its Surface range and as part of Microsoft’s strategy to target Taiwanese consumers, reported CNA.

The flagship store will also sell Microsoft’s range of gaming products and is the U.S. company’s 14th flagship store.

The Xinyi District (信義區) store reflects Microsoft’s targeting of the Taiwan market and is set to cater to Taiwanese consumers according to Chang Chia-hao (張家豪), a Senior Product Marketing Associate.

Microsoft recently expanded its Surface range of personal computers and the flagship will allow these new products to be available to Taiwanese consumers in the shortest possible time, according to Chang.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan shares open up

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/09
By: Frances Huang 

Taipei, July 9 (CNA) The Taiwan Stock Exchange’s main index opened up 30.33 Monday at 10,638.90 points on turnover of NT$3.68 billion (US$121 million).     [SOURCE]

Commercial property at 15-year high

HEADING NORTH: Taipei’s Neihu was increasingly popular with investors in the second quarter and responsible for NT$24.6 billion of the total NT$77.9 billion in transactions

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 09, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Commercial property transactions hit a 15-year high in the second quarter of the year, data from real-estate advisory firm CBRE Group Inc showed.

Sales of commercial property in Taiwan during the April-to-June period totaled NT$77.9 billion (US$2.55 billion), the highest level since the firm started to publish the statistics in 2003, CBRE said on Tuesday last week.

Transactions in the second quarter grew 165 percent from the same period last year, largely on the back of strong interest from innovative start-ups, CBRE said.

Out of the total sales value, NT$33.3 billion came from transactions of shops, factories and offices, up 154 percent from last year, while the remaining NT$44.6 billion came from land transactions, up 173 percent from last year, the data showed.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s HTC June sales down more than 60% year-on-year

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/07/06
By:  Central News Agency

Taiwan-based smartphone brand HTC Corp. reported on Friday that its sales for June fell

HTC registers falling sales for June. (By Central News Agency)

more than 60 percent from a year earlier with market analysts attributing the decline to escalating global competition.

In a statement, HTC said it posted NT$2.23 billion (US$73.11 million), down 67.64 percent from last year. The June figure was also down 8.97 percent from the previous month.

It was the fifth consecutive month HTC has failed to generate monthly revenue of more than NT$3 billion.

In the first six months of the year, HTC’s consolidated sales stood at NT$15.56 billion, down 49.25 percent from a year earlier.
[FULL  STORY]

Yageo posts record-high monthly result

‘REASONABLE PRICES’: The company said it could supply 95% of components sold by Murata, which is exiting electronics, but would expand capacity to meet demand

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 07, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Yageo Corp (國巨), the nation’s biggest passive component supplier, yesterday reported record-high revenue for last month as it benefited from persistent supply constraints and increased its output of high-margin components.

Revenue more than tripled to NT$8.54 billion (US$280 million), compared with NT$2.46 billion in June last year, marking the fourth consecutive month of rising revenue.

During the quarter ending on Saturday last week, revenue jumped 159.4 percent to NT$19.24 billion from NT$7.83 billion in the same period last year, Yageo said.

The company in a statement attributed the growth to “solid demand” and across-the-board and expansion of its high-end components capacity.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s I-Mei to buy 250 tons of red pitaya amid glut

The Taiwanese food giant continues to buy more locally-produced fruit to offset oversupply and help farmers

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/05
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(Image credit: pxhere)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As Taiwanese farmers have suffered from banana, pineapple and pitaya gluts this summer, Taiwanese food giant I-Mei Foods announced this year’s third round of fresh fruit procurement on Thursday.

The company said it is planning to purchase 250 tons of top-graded red-fleshed pitaya, also known as “fire dragon fruit” (火龍果) in the country, at the price of NT$33 (US$1.08) per kilogram in box.

As of July 5, the company procured 200 tons of banana from local growers.

The company’s food safety lab is set to develop new pitaya products to add value to the fruit, and to tackle the oversupply problem.     [FULL  STORY]