Business and Finance

Talks on US tariffs still ongoing: Foreign minister

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-04-11

The foreign minister, Joseph Wu, has said talks with the United States on new steel and aluminum import tariffs are still ongoing.

Last month, President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on steel imports, and a 10% tariff on aluminum. In 2017, the United States accounted for 13.16% of Taiwan’s steel exports and 23% of its aluminum exports. This makes the US Taiwan’s largest steel export market and sixth-largest aluminum market.

At the Legislature on Wednesday, lawmakers noted that Mexico and South Korea have been exempted from the tariffs. They asked Wu whether the US has demanded certain conditions for Taiwan to be exempted. Wu said talks on the matter are still ongoing, and that he had not heard such demands. Wu also said that Taiwan is focusing on providing the US with information on the degree of Chinese product and labor involved in its steel and aluminum exports. China is the particular target of the Trump administration’s recent trade measures.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan forum promotes New Southbound Policy

Government wants to further intensify ties with South and Southeast Asia

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/11
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A forum opened Wednesday on the topic of the New Southbound

Minister without Portfolio John Deng. (By Central News Agency)

Policy, the government’s plan to intensify relations in a variety of fields with the nations of Southeast Asia, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Economic Daily News were the main sponsors of the one-day event in Taipei, the United Daily News reported.

The “2018 New Southbound Business Opportunities Forum” focused on how to break through limitations and competition from other countries in developing business ties with the New Southbound Policy target countries, reports said.

Panel discussions featured topics such as the role of Taiwanese banks and investment cooperation strategy while speakers included Minister without Portfolio John Deng and the chairmen of the Taiwan Business Bank and of CPC Corp., Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Hon Hai sales hit record Q1 high

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/11

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world’s largest contract electronics maker, posted its highest ever first quarter sales figures, with market analysts attributing the growth to solid demand for communications devices and computing gadgets.

The strong demand for the two types of products offset the impact of weaker than expected demand for Apple Inc’s premium iPhone X, which was unveiled in September 2017 to mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, analysts said.

Hon Hai, one of the most important suppliers to Apple, is believed to serve as the sole assembler of the iPhone X, and about 40 percent of its sales come from orders placed by Apple.

During the January-March period, Hon Hai posted NT$1.03 trillion (US$35.27 billion) in consolidated sales, up 5.22 percent from a year earlier.    [FULL  STORY]

Cathay Financial cancels Malaysia deal

REGULATORY OBSTACLES: Several Taiwanese banks have set up offices in Malaysia, but strict controls on licenses have prevented them from being upgraded to branches

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 12, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控), one of the nation’s largest financial institutions, yesterday said it has terminated an agreement to acquire the Malaysian banking assets of Canada-based Bank of Nova Scotia, commonly known as Scotiabank.

In a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Cathay Financial said it decided to end an agreement to acquire Scotiabank’s Malaysian subsidiary, Bank of Nova Scotia Bhd, because certain terms of the transaction were not fulfilled.

Cathay Financial did not provide further details on exactly why the acquisition fell through, as the two sides had signed a nondisclosure agreement.

Cathay Financial vice president Teng Chung-yi (鄧崇儀) said that the acquisition price was not the problem.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s agritech company to invest NT$758 million in UK

The investment reflects a strong trade and investment relationship between Taiwan and Britain, according to a UK minister

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/10
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese agritech company said Tuesday it would invest

Graham Stuart, U.K. minister for investment of the Department for International Trade and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) (By Taiwan News)

GBP£1,800 million (NT$758 million) in the UK over the next two years and build a vertical farming pilot factory at the National Agri-Food Innovation Campus in York.

Graham Stuart, UK minister for investment of the Department for International Trade, announced this investment project along with the president of YesHealth Agri-biotechnology, Winston Tsai (蔡文清), at the company’s high-tech farm in Taoyuan City.

“This is only the latest announcement in a pattern of mutual trade and investment that has flourished between our economies over recent years,” said Stuart, adding Taiwan and the UK would have huge opportunity for cooperation in biotech, AI, infrastructure, as well as green energy in the future.

“Britain is open for business,” emphasized the minister while referring to the fact that the UK had welcomed many technology companies from Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

TSMC breaks monthly revenue record in March

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/04/10
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, April 10 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s No.

TSMC (By Central News Agency)

1 contract chip foundry, posted March revenue of NT$103.69 billion (US$3.55 billion), making it the highest single-month revenue in the history of the company.

Due to the slow-season effect and fewer work days in the months of January and February, TSMC reported revenue of NT$144.38 for the first two months of the year.

TSMC therefore had to see revenue of over NT$100 billion in March in order to meet its previously announced revenue target of US$8.4 billion to US$8.5 billion for the first quarter of the year.

The company reported Tuesday that its March revenue helped toachieve the target.
[FULL  STORY]

March CPI rises on back of tobacco, vegetable price increases

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/10
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Ko Lin

Taipei, April 10 (CNA) A hike in tobacco and vegetable prices in March pushed up the

CNA file photo

local consumer price index (CPI) for the month, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Tuesday.

The March CPI rose 1.57 percent from a year earlier after tobacco and vegetable prices registered 29.49 percent and 14.59 percent year-on-year increases in the month, according to statistics compiled by the DGBAS.

Mei Chia-yuan (梅家瑗), deputy director of the DGBAS Statistics Department, said due to a hike in tobacco taxes in Taiwan, the price of the miscellaneous goods and services rose 5.89 percent from a year earlier in March, which served as one of the drivers of the increase in local consumer prices that month.

In March, the price of fish and seafood products rose 5.28 percent from a year earlier, while fruit prices fell 23.24 percent year-on-year.    [FULL  STORY]

FPG units optimistic despite US-China tensions

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

Three major units of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday released positive business outlooks for this quarter, despite an escalating trade war between the US and China.

The company’s revenue performance this quarter is expected to outpace last quarter, thanks to recovering demand and higher utilization rates, Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) chairman Jason Lin (林健男) told an earnings conference in Taipei yesterday.

A 25 percent tariff announced by China on US-made chemicals would not affect the operations of Formosa Plastics’ US subsidiary in the short term, as polyethylene products made by the US unit are sold mainly to Latin America, Europe and Africa, Lin said.

The company would expand sales channels in overseas markets apart from China, such as Europe and Southeast Asia, after capacity expansion at its US plant is completed in the fourth quarter of this year, Lin added.    [FULL  STORY]

DATA: Food Price Rises Outpace Income Growth in Taiwan

Are Taiwanese consumers better off than they were a decade ago?

The News Lens
Date: 2018/04/09
By: Morley J Weston

示意圖，非實際違規業者。Photo Credit：Connie Ma CC BY-SA 2.0
Listen

The price of almost everything is going up in Taiwan, but the good news is that the nation’s tepid income growth is usually able to outpace prices.

Medical care has doubled in price since the early 1980s, housing costs saw a 46 percent increase and the only large drop has been the price of communication. The boom time of the ’80s and ’90s is over; prices have remained remarkably steady for the past decade, with one notable exception — food.

Since 2003, food prices, have risen 41 percent, while incomes rose just 18 percent.
[FULL  STORY]

Rumors about HTC rolling out U12 appear in Taiwanese media reports

Rumors about HTC rolling out its new flagship mobile phone, HTC U12+, in May and about the new phone’s specifications have appeared in Taiwan’s media reports

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/09
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–Rumors about HTC rolling out its new flagship mobile phone, HTC U12+, in May and about the new phone’s specifications have appeared in Taiwan’s media reports.

A mobile phone accessory supplier, iCCUPY (黑占科技) has put out several models of screen protective films and protective covers for HTC U12+, according to media reports. There is a dual-lens front camera, a sensor and an audio jack on top of the screen, while on the rear of the phone, there are dual cameras, surrounded by a sensor, a fill light, and a microphone on three sides, as well as a fingerprint sensor positioned just below the camera module.  .      [FULL  STORY]