The company could save up to US$207 million in eight years

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/24
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Formosa Petrochemical Corporation’s top executive announced a

plan to build a US$9.4 billion chemical manufacturing complex on a 970-hectare site in Louisiana, which is expected to bring in 1,200 permanent jobs for the state.

Motivated by cheap natural gas produced by the fracking boom in the U.S. and by tax breaks, the company has nailed down the location of the complex in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.

The company will enjoy a five-year exemption of property tax, followed by an 80 percent exemption for three years, saving up to US$207 million in eight years. The state government could earn US$28 million every year as the tax break expires, according to an AP report.

The construction is expected to take 10 years, beginning as soon as 2019 if all permits are approved.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/24
By: Tien Yu-pin, Tsai Yi-chu and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, April 24 (CNA) Taiwan’s KGI Bank has strengthened its risk management

measures following a currency trading incident in March that led to a loss of NT$240 million (US$8.11 million) for the bank.

KGI addressed the incident Tuesday, saying that one of its traders made a wrong call in a trade involving the Canadian dollar, which yielded horrible results due to the volatility of the currency at that time.

The loss made up the bulk of March’s after-tax loss of NT$283 million, although the bank maintained that it was trading with its own capital and not its clients’ money, so its clients’ interests were unaffected.

Spokesman Eddy Chang (張立人) of the China Development Financial Holding Corp., which is the parent company of KGI Bank, went on record to say that the incident was reported immediately to management, following which the bank reformed its risk management system to make up for any gaps.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-04-23

Labor rights activists staged a demonstration on Monday ahead of a planned march to

mark Labor Day on May 1.

Members of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions, Solidarity and other workers’ rights groups gathered on Monday at the offices of the Chinese National Federation of Industries and the General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China. The activists issued a list of demands ahead of this year’s Labor Day march on May 1. They also accused business leaders of being disingenuous in their stated “concern” for Taiwan’s economy.

Among the demands was a call for the minimum monthly wage to be raised immediately to NT$28,000 (US$950) and for employers in all sectors to raise wages by 10% a year over a period of three years.    [FULL  STORY]

The president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute received the award from the president of IP and Standards on April 23 

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/04/23
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The big data analytics firm Clarivate Analytics presented

an award to Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) as one of the “Top 100 Global Innovators”of 2017, on April 23.

The president of the IP and Standards business group presented the award to the president of ITRI, Edwin Liu (劉文雄) at a ceremony on Monday. This is the second time since 2014 that ITRI has received the prestigious award.

The institute was recognized for its influence on global innovation, via the impressive number of technical patents that the company has produced.

Edwin Liu noted that work involving the protection of intellectual property is one of the most important areas that ITRI’s research and development is targeting.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/23
By: Liao Yu-yang and Ko Lin

Taipei, April 23 (CNA) Taiwan’s industrial production in March rebounded from a month earlier, fueled largely by growth in the country’s electronics sector, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Monday.

The March industrial production index rose 3.09 percent from the same month a year earlier to 117.14, bolstered by a 6.49 percent year-on-year increase in the electronic parts and components industry, the MOEA said.

The sub-index for the manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the country’s total industrial production, rose 3.20 percent from a year earlier to 119.75, the data showed.

Meanwhile, the local chemical material segment reported a 8.31 percent year-on-year increase in March on the back of higher international crude oil prices and stronger demand for petrochemical raw materials, the data showed.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan is in a race against its neighbors to get its head around cryptocurrencies.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/04/20
By: Matthew Fulco, Taiwan Business TOPICS Magazine

Virtual currency fever swept the globe over the past year, peaking when Bitcoin’s value hit US$19,500 in December. Since that zenith, the preeminent cryptocurrency’s value has plummeted to just US$10,000, illustrating its extreme volatility.

Bitcoin is the best known cryptocurrency, but over a thousand have been established, observes Carl Wegner, who heads the Asia business of New York-based blockchain firm R3.

“Virtual currency usually offers users anonymity, which has caused challenges for it with financial regulators,” he says. “Regulators worry that anonymous transactions may facilitate money laundering.”

Financial regulators in Taiwan have signaled their ambivalence toward cryptocurrency. Wellington Koo (顧立雄), chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), said in October that Taiwan would not adopt a heavy-handed approach to virtual currency as China and South Korea have done. Beijing and Seoul have both cracked down on cryptocurrency exchanges and banned initial coin offerings (ICOs) – a means of fundraising for virtual-currency ventures.    [FULL  STORY]