Business and Finance

Manufacturing to grow 3.49%, IEK says

UPTREND: Petrochemicals are expected to benefit from rising global crude oil prices, while semiconductors should lend support to the ICT industry, the researcher said

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 18, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

The manufacturing sector is expected to see growth of 3.49 percent this year, as rising commodity prices, including crude oil and steel, help lift the local petrochemical and base metals sectors, the Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK, 產業經濟與趨勢研究中心) said yesterday.

The forecast represented an upward revision from the 3.25 percent annual growth estimated by the Hsinchu-based researcher in October last year.

IEK expects the manufacturing sector, a key pillar of the nation’s economy, to generate output of NT$18.93 trillion (US$640.39 billion), up from NT$18.29 trillion last year.
[FULL  STORY]

Policies share goal of boosting investment: Lai

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-01-16

Premier William Lai says that a range of current government policies share the common goal of spurring investment. Lai was speaking Tuesday during a conference on investment in Taiwan.

Lai said the national economy needs momentum. He said the Cabinet is working to encourage investment to spur economic development and help resolve a longstanding problem of depressed wages.    [FULL  STORY]

Bite a real apple! Taiwan’s Foxconn delves into fresh food e-commerce

The Taiwanese business giant to expand ventures from the farm to your table, developing fruit and vegetable farms, e-commerce, and smart cooking appliances

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/16
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou is expanding its fresh produce business and is pushing a one-stop food solution service, from farm to table, out of his ever-expanding business empire.

Gou’s empire ranges from contract electronics manufacturing, farming and e-commerce to smart home appliances, healthcare and smart logistics.

Best known as a major supplier to Cupertino-based Apple Inc., Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., which trades on the Nasdaq as Foxconn, launched an online marketplace for fresh produce on Monday. The new platform Mr. Yong Lin and Ms. Sharp is named after the partnership between Hon Hai’s Yong Lin Farm, and Sharp Home Appliances and is planning to create a synergistic business relationship.

The platform also sources fresh produce outside Yong Lin Farm and works with health-minded brands including Home Fragrance Pig, mamafisch, DR. Beef, Brother Chiu’s drug-free aquatic products, and Kawa Life’s drug-free chicken.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan shares open lower

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/17
By: Flor Wang

Taipei, Jan. 17 (CNA) The Taiwan Stock Exchange’s main index opened down 9.98 Wednesday at 10,976.13 on turnover of NT$2.237 billion (US$75.72 million).
[SOURCE]

Nanya Tech net profit hits record high

STEADY GROWTH: Lee Pei-ing said he expects DRAM chip prices to rise this quarter, while demand is expected to grow by between 20 percent and 25 percent this year

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 17, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday posted record-high net profit for last quarter, attributable to prolonged price hikes and a massive gain on disposal of Micron Technology Inc shares.

In the quarter that ended on Dec. 31 last year, net profit skyrocketed 157 percent to NT$21.98 billion (US$743.7 million), compared with NT$8.55 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The company last quarter booked a NT$16.12 billion nonoperating gain from selling its shares of Micron.

The record-high quarterly figure helped lift the memory chipmaker’s bottom line last year to the highest in its history. For last year as a whole, net profit jumped about 70 percent to NT$40.29 billion, compared with NT$23.72 billion in 2016.    [FULL  STORY]

CPC to set up petrochemical park in India

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-01-15

Taiwan’s state-run energy company — CPC Corporation, Taiwan — is teaming up with the government of India to set up a petrochemical park there. That’s in line with the Taiwan government’s New Southbound Policy, which aims to expand ties with countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

On Monday, CPC said that in order for the petrochemical plant to be efficient, ethylene production should reach one million tons a year. Therefore, it said the initial investment would be at least NT$170 billion dollars (or nearly US$5.7 billion). A Japanese company has already expressed interest in the venture and will travel to India this month to explore the possibilities.

CPC said that the plant will face competition from other international and local businesses. But if Taiwanese, Japanese and Indian partners work together on the project, that will give them an advantage. CPC will hold a 49-50% share while the other 50% will be held by Taiwanese, Japanese, and Indian partners.    [FULL  STORY]

Majority of Taiwan’s office workers treated poorly on the job: poll

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/01/15
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) Most office workers in Taiwan put up with unreasonable treatment from “spoiled” bosses for an average 19 months before leaving the job, according to a survey released Monday by the online 1111 job bank.

The survey showed that 88 percent of office workers think their bosses are “spoiled” because they subject their staff to verbal abuse by using mocking or insulting language, force subordinates to run personal errands for them, and frequently demand overtime work, sometimes without pay.

Such unfair treatment is most prevalent in the medical and health care sector, real estate business and in retail and department stores, the poll found.    [FULL  STORY]

Android Pay to extend services to debit card users

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/15
By: Jeffrey Wu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) Android Pay, a mobile digital wallet platform developed by U.S-

Image taken from Pixabay

based Google Inc., is scheduled to expand its services from credit card holders to also include debit card users, according to the search engine giant.

Starting Tuesday, 11 banks operating in Taiwan will cooperate with more than 100 merchants around the country to provide such mobile payment services to both credit card and debit card users in Taiwan.

On June 1, 2017, Google launched the Android Pay service to credit card users in Taiwan, when the number of partner merchants totaled only 60 islandwide.

Hu Yu-ming (胡予明), a manager of Google Pay’s strategic cooperation and development in the greater China market, said Monday in a statement that Google is delighted to see Android Pay expanding its services in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Sharp to supply Hon Hai with OLEDs

MASS PRODUCTION: Sharp Corp would be the first Japanese company to have the capability to produce OLED displays for smartphones, the ‘Nikkei’ reported this month

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 16, 2018
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Sharp Corp, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) Japanese subsidiary, would start supplying OLED displays for smartphones to Hon Hai this summer at the earliest, Sharp president and chief executive officer Tai Jeng-wu (戴正吳) said yesterday.

“Sharp will have mass production capability for OLED displays used in smartphones as soon as this quarter, but the shipping schedule is estimated to be between June and September to meet product launch schedules,” Tai told reporters after a news conference in Taipei.

Tai did not disclose the identity of the clients for whom Sharp would be supplying the displays.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Ministry of Labor invites supermarkets over to discuss labor reform

Ministry worried about potential overwork at mass retailers

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/13
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Ministry of Labor was planning to invite mass retailers

Government and supermarkets will discuss workweek reform next week. (By Central News Agency)

“over for coffee” to discuss the recent changes to the Labor Standards Act, reports said Saturday.

The main topic would be how to avoid excessive overwork for employees, following criticism that the changes approved by the Legislative Yuan on January 10 were a step backward for labor rights.

The ministry wanted the mass retailers to abstain from issuing working schedules which put too much pressure on employees, the Liberty Times reported. Practices such as shifts which were scheduled too closely together and prevented staff from taking enough rest, or a random filling out of 336 hours of work within 30 days could not be tolerated, the report said.

Representatives of the major supermarket chains in Taiwan, such as Carrefour, Costco, RT-Mart and A-Mart would meet with a government delegation next week when they would learn the details of the new legislative amendments.    [FULL  STORY]