Production to be cut by half over 17 days

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/26
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A 17-day shutdown ordered by the government of the Chinese city

of Kunshan (昆山) west of Shanghai to combat water pollution is hitting Taiwanese companies hard, reports said Tuesday.

The local government recently wrote to 270 companies with factories along the Wusong River (吳淞江), ordering them to cease all production for 17 days from December 25 to January 10 because the water quality in three locations in the river had been found to be worse than national and provincial standards, the Apple Daily reported.

Taiwanese companies targeted by the decision included food producer Uni-President Enterprises (統一), bicycle manufacturer Giant (巨大工業), technology giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (鴻海) and paper producer YFY (永豐餘) among others, according to the report, which emphasized Chinese and foreign companies were also affected.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/26
By: Tsai Yi-chu and William Yen

Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) Credit cards issued by eight state-owned banks and five private

banks are to waive transaction fees when they are used at government institutions and public hospitals from Jan. 1, benefiting up to 19.61 million card holders, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said Tuesday.

Wang Li-chun (王立群), deputy director of the FSC’s Banking Bureau, said that to promote universal credit card and mobile usage, payment can be made by credit card to government agencies and medical institutions for medical treatment and registration fees without transaction fees.

Currently, some hospitals charge transaction fees when payment is made with a credit card, while others do not, Wang said.    [FULL  STORY]

The 14-day visa waiver program for Filipinos began Nov. 1, on a trial basis, and will run until July 2018

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/25
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The provisions for visa-free entry granted to Filipino citizens by

Taiwan has proven successful, as it has led to double the number of visits by Filipinos in November as compared to last year, according to Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency (NIA).

As part of the effort to promote the New Southbound Policy, Taiwan began offering 14-day visa waivers for Filipinos traveling to Taiwan on a trial basis beginning on Nov. 1, and running until July of 2018.

In November alone, Taiwan received 31,747 visitors from the Philippines, up 107.66 percent from last year, and up 30 percent from October, the NIA said. During the same period of time, the number of inbound Filipinos visiting for sightseeing purposes rose 241 percent from the same period of last year.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/25
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Dec. 25 (CNA) Cathay Financial Holding Co., one of Taiwan’s leading financial holding companies, said Monday it was maintaining its forecast of 2 percent growth for Taiwan in 2018 that it originally made in September.

National Central University economist Hsu Chih-chiang (徐之強), who led the Cathay Financial research team that made the forecast, said at a press conference that Taiwan will continue to benefit from solid global demand as the world economy shows steady growth.

Hsu said the research team was upbeat about Taiwan’s exports, which should continue to drive the country’s GDP growth in 2018, but he cautioned that some of that upward momentum might be offset by relatively slow growth in domestic demand.

Cathay Financial’s forecast was more conservative than that of other local think tanks and the government’s statistic agency, which have all projected 2018 growth above 2 percent.
[FULL  STORY]

FPC’s vice president seeks suggestions from customers to improve service

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/24
By: Jose Kalathil, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

NEW DELHI (Taiwan News) — Formosa Plastics Corporation (FPC) executive vice president

K. L. Huang has announced that the company will hold seminars on plastics in India every year in future.

Addressing participants of a seminar entitle  “Explore the World of Plastics,” in New Delhi recently, Huang said that the company’s staff will introduce FPC’s valuable products, including PVC, POM, PP, PE, EVA, Carbon Fiber, SAP and many others, to Indian customers. He also sought suggestions from customers on how to improve the company’s services.

“India became FPC’s important PVC market three years ago. In order to increase its service efficiency, we opened a Technology Service Office in Mumbai in April 2016. Formosa and All India Plastic Manufacturers Association (AIPMA) also jointly organised the first technology seminar in Mumbai in November,” he added.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/24
By: Huang Ya-chuan and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 24 (CNA) State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan announced Sunday that it

will increase domestic gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.1 (US$0.0033) per liter, starting at midnight, in the wake of rising international crude oil prices.

After the adjustment, prices at CPC gas stations nationwide will be NT$24.2 per liter for super diesel, NT$26.4 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$27.9 per liter for 95 unleaded and NT$29.9 per liter for 98 unleaded, the company said.

CPC said that international oil prices surged slightly over the past week, lifted by a rise in Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, to US$64.90 per barrel, the highest since July 2015.    [FULL  STORY]