Business and Finance

Chunghwa deal not for profits

QUEUING CUSTOMERS: The NT$499 flat-rate package should broaden the telecom’s customer base, but is offered at below cost so should not affect revenue, the firm said

Taipei Times
Date: May 12, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecom, yesterday said it is

Chunghwa Telecom Co president Sheih Chi-mau, left, speaks to the company’s chairman, David Cheng, during a news conference in Taipei yesterday to discuss the company’s introduction of a NT$499 flat-rate package on Tuesday.  Photo: CNA

sticking to its financial forecast this year, as its NT$499 flat-rate package should have only a minor effect on its profit and revenue.

Launched on Wednesday, the company’s new deal has resulted in unprecedented queues of people wanting to switch to the bargain package outside its stores over the past three days.

Chunghwa Telecom said the new rate plan aims to counter competition from its rivals, who have been enticing new subscribers with low-cost tariffs.

“The new strategy is a reaction to the external environment,” chairman David Cheng (鄭優) told a media briefing. “We do not want to see a price war, but we have to fight back when there is a war.”    [FULL  STORY]

Following record-breaking year, Taiwan’s demand for U.S. beef still sizzling

While Japan and South Korea are the main markets for U.S. beef in Asia, don’t discount the importance of other countries, like Taiwan.

Beef Magazine
Date: May 10, 2018
By: U.S. Meat Export Federation  

Despite having a population of just 23 million, Taiwan consistently ranks as one of the leading destinations for U.S. beef. In 2017, Taiwan was the U.S. beef industry’s sixth-largest value market, with exports reaching a record $409.7 million.

It is an especially strong market for chilled (never frozen) beef cuts, with Taiwan’s imports of chilled U.S. beef reaching $238 million last year on a volume of 26,054 metric tons (mt). The U.S. captured 72% of Taiwan’s chilled beef market in 2017 – the highest share of any Asian destination – and market share continues to increase this year.

Taiwan’s imports of U.S. beef are off to a blistering start in 2018, with first quarter volume running 20% ahead of last year’s pace at 13,018 mt and value increasing 26% to $126.4 million. Chilled imports fared even better – up 25% in volume (5,712 mt) and 31% in value ($74 million). The U.S. is the largest overall supplier of beef to Taiwan with 45% market share. U.S. beef increasingly dominates chilled imports, with chilled share reaching 74% in the first quarter of 2018.    [FULL  STORY]

Influential S. Korean business group visits Taiwan

A joint conference between the two leading business organizations of the two countries was held on Thursday to exchange views on startup development

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/05/10
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A South Korean business delegation is visiting Taiwan this week

Vice Chairman Kwon, Tae-Shin of FKI, Representative Yang, Chang-Soo of Korean Mission in Taipei, Chairman Park, Keun-Tae of Korea-Taiwan Business Coun

to exchange views on startup development and further seek opportunities for industries of the two countries to work together.

Representative Ting Joseph Shih of the Taipei Mission in Korea, Deputy Minister Yang Tzu-Pao of the Ministry of Culture, Representative Yang Chang-Soo of Korean Mission in Taipei, and Vice Chairman Kwon Tae-Shin of FKI were invited to deliver a speech at a meeting set to connect industries between Taiwan and South Korea. There were over 100 participants from both sides at the meeting.

Hosts of the 43rd joint conference – the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) and the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) – co-chaired the meetings, featuring “Taiwan’s Asia Silicon Valley Plan,” “Korean start-ups,” and cooperative opportunities for biotech/cosmetics and tourism/culture sectors. The Korean delegation also shows great interests in Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy and the development of start-ups.    [FULL  STORY]

CPC urged to secure mineral rights overseas

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/10
By: Pan Chih-yi and Ko Lin

Taipei, May 10 (CNA) State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp. could do a lot to support local industries by helping secure minerals from overseas markets, Taiwanese business executives and academics said Thursday.

Speaking during the CPC Future Smart Energy forum, Mechema Chemicals International Corp President Yen Lung-tsai (嚴隆財) said CPC could land purchase agreements with suppliers overseas to facilitate stable supply of minerals for battery makers in Taiwan.

Due to the relatively small market, much of the materials, including cobalt and nickel, for making lithium cobalt batteries, need to be imported by businesses themselves, and at a steep price tag, Yen said.

Based out of Taoyuan, Mechema has for the last decade been involved in the manufacture of lithium batteries and has since become one of the country’s major battery suppliers for electric vehicles.    [FULL  STORY]

Pegatron upbeat on Q3, despite Q1 drop

SLOW START: While total sales this quarter are expected to see double-digit growth from last year, sales in some areas, such as laptops and PCs, are expect to remain sluggish

Taipei Times
Date: May 11, 2018
By: Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter

Pegatron Corp (和碩) expects earnings to begin improving next quarter as new products are launched ahead of the high-season in the second half of this year.

Sales this quarter would continue to see declines that persisted during the slow season in the first three months of the year, chief executive officer S.J. Liao (廖賜政) told a teleconference yesterday.

However, revenue contribution from laptop and desktop computers was expected to shrink by 10 to 15 percent, with non-information technology related products expected to be more resilient to the slump and see smaller declines, Liao said.

Total sales during the second quarter are expected to show a double-digit growth from a year earlier, Liao said, adding that the contract electronics manufacturer would see diminished foreign exchange pressure as the New Taiwan dollar weakens.
[FULL  STORY]

Special limited Tai Tzu-ying Easycards available for booking in Taiwan on May 9

EasyCard Corporation announced on Wednesday that EasyCards featuring Taiwan’s world No. 1 women’s badminton player Tai Tzu-ying can be booked beginning 10 a.m. on May 9

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/05/08
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—EasyCard Corporation announced on Wednesday that

(photo courtesy of EasyCard Corporation)

EasyCards featuring Taiwan’s world No. 1 women’s badminton player Tai Tzu-ying can be booked beginning 10 a.m. on May 9.

Tai successfully defended her title in the 2018 Badminton Asia Championships held in Wuhan, China by defeating China’s top player Chen Yu-fei, and regained her world No. 1 position.

In April 2017, she won her first title against Akane Yamaguchi in the Badminton Asia Championships, marking a sixth consecutive title. It was also the first gold medal for Taiwan in this competition.

The company said the special Tai Tzu-ying Easycard edition is issued to record and share the glory of Tai’s crowning moment.
[FULL  STORY]

StarLux Airlines eyes transit market in Asia: chairman

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/08
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, May 8 (CNA) StarLux Airlines, which was established last week, is eyeing the

Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒)

transit market in Asia in the initial stages of its operation, as well as high-end travelers, its chairman, Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒), said Tuesday.

“The Taiwanese market itself is too small, so we need to focus on the transit sector to play big,” said Chang, a former EVA Airways chairman.

There is still room for growth in the transit market, said StarLux President Glenn Chai (翟健華), adding that the Asia-Pacific region will play a bigger role in the global aviation market in the coming years.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), by 2035, 40 percent of a total of 7.2 billion global passengers will be traveling across the area, compared with 30 percent of 3.8 billion passengers in 2016.    [FULL  STORY]

PChomestore planning to go private

FASTER EXPANSION: PChomestore is planning to revamp its structure by introducing new strategic investors and broadening its business scope, chairman Jan Hung-tze said

Taipei Times
Date: May 09, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

E-commerce operator PChomestore Inc (商店街) yesterday unexpectedly announced a NT$363 million (US$12.19 million) privatization plan in a bid to pursue greater returns on investment.

The announcement came after the company saw its losses deepen over the past four quarters amid escalating competition primarily from rival Shopee Taiwan Co (樂購蝦皮).

PChomestore incurred a loss of NT$1.06 billion last year, or a loss per share of NT$43.25, nearly three times the company’s share capital of about NT$345 million.

The losses were blamed on last year’s operating expenses of NT$1.27 billion, which skyrocketed from NT$240 million in 2016.    [FULL  STORY]

FDA Raises Fines for False Adverts

Formosa News
Date: 2018/05/07

Ads for food products in Taiwan often contain exaggerations, such as claims of a medicinal nature. Such statements are fined time and again by Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration, but because the fines are too low, producers pay little heed. Now, the FDA is planning to up the ante.

Until now, companies penalized for false advertising have been fined NT$40,000 no matter the number of infractions. Now the FDA wants to change the process so that a first-time offense could get a fine of up to NT$80,000 Taiwan dollars, and the sum will increase for repeat offenders, reaching up to NT$4 million dollars by the fifth offense. In serious cases, the FDA will even have the power to force the firm to cease trading.
[SOURCE]

‘Taiwan’s average salary is NT$50,000’ doesn’t reflect reality: Minister of Labor

Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) admitted in the country’s legislature on Monday that this number does not reflect the reality of the society even though it was statistically correct

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/07
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Taiwan Premier William Lai (賴清德) recently said that the

(By Central News Agency)

average total salary of laborers in Taiwan last year was NT$49,989 (about US$1,700), but Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) admitted in the country’s legislature on Monday that this number does not reflect the reality of the society even though it was statistically correct.

Focusing on the low salary issue during a hearing in the legislature, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an ( 蔣萬安) asked the minister whether the average salary of NT$49,989 can reflect the reality of the society.

In response, Hsu said the average number doesn’t reflect the reality of the society and that a better representation of the society’s salary structure would be salary figures from each and every profession in the society. She added that NT$49,989 is a correct statistical figure, but the reality is that not too many people in the society earn that much.

According to Taiwan’s Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, on average the salary for an industrial or service worker in Taiwan was NT$39,953 in 2017, but if all bonuses and overtime pays were included, the average total salary was NT$49,989.    [FULL  STORY]