Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/04
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) Singapore-based budget airline Scoot, which has operated in Taiwan for five years,

is optimistic about prospects in the local market because its development strategy suits Taiwan’s New Southbound policy, a company executive said recently.

“Taiwan is like a mini-hub for us,” according to Vinod Kannan, Scoot’s chief commercial officer, in a conversation with CNA last week. “So the Southbound policy is exactly in line with what we are doing.”

The policy, launched in mid-2016 to reduce Taiwan’s dependence on China, seeks to increase Taiwan’s cooperation with Southeast Asian and South Asian countries, as well as New Zealand and Australia.

The low-cost carrier is also eyeing further expansion of its network in Southeast Asia, especially after a merger in July with Tigerair Singapore that gave Scoot more than 10 new destinations in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, Kannan said.    [FULL  STORY]

Gen 13 Air Jordans made with Taiwan lasers

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/03
By: Renée Salmonsen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After a rough year for Nike, the company announced they will shift their

manufacturing strategy to the adopt production innovations used by Taiwan’s Feng Tay Enterprises Co, Ltd. (豐泰), reports Commonwealth Magazine.

The announcement addresses the company’s manufacturing strategy, namely that Nike is ready to keep up with other big names in shoes and integrate 11 new automated technologies into their production process, including automated airbrushes, computer-designed patterns, laser cutting, and laser stitching.

As a result, the manpower used to create the 13th generation Air Jordan line will be decreased by 30 percent and the margin of overall output increased by 50 percent.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/03
By: Huang Ya-chuan and William Yen

Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp. Taiwan (中油) said Sunday it will raise domestic

diesel prices by NT$0.1 (US$0.003) per liter but will not adjust its gasoline prices for this week.

Beginning at midnight, prices at CPC gas stations across Taiwan will be NT$24.1 per liter for super diesel, NT$26.2 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$27.7 per liter for 95 unleaded and NT$29.7 per liter for 98 unleaded, the company said.

According to the CPC, crude oil prices dropped because the Keystone Pipeline between Canada and the United States has resumed working.

However, crude oil reserves in the U.S. were decreasing and a decision by major oil producers to extend an agreement on cutting production to the end of next year pushed crude prices higher.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-02

Taiwan and the UK have agreed to further economic ties with dialogue on energy and trade in agricultural

products.

The agreement came as the two sides met in London Saturday for the 20th round of bilateral trade talks. Taiwan’s chief representative at the meeting, Vice Economics Minister Wang Mei-hua, said dialogue on energy and agricultural products will begin next year.

During the meeting, the two sides also discussed bilateral investment, protections for intellectual property rights, financial services, and cooperation on renewable energy.

International Trade Minister Greg Hands, the chief British official at the meeting, said that as the UK prepares to leave the European Union, Taiwan’s economy and the Taiwanese market present opportunities for British businesses.    [FULL  STORY]

I-Mei Foods Co. recently held direct hiring in Davao City and Manila in the Philippines to help ease workers’ debt burdens from broker fees

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/29
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A story that has made a headline but has not really caught a lot of people’s attention was said to be “very unusual” by a BBC reporter.

In the radio show “BBC Business Matters” broadcast on Wednesday, BBC reporter Cindy Su expressed her dire concern over the conditions of migrant workers in Taiwan, but a direct hiring move by a leading Taiwanese food manufacturer has won recognition as a new trend to start out.

In her report, she said the company I-Mei Foods did something “unusual” in terms of recruitment and has actively responded to the problems facing migrant workers by taking the first step – cutting out the middlemen in the process of hiring.

She continued to say that the company went to the Philippines, to the southern city of Davao and the capital Manila recently to interview hundreds of job applicants, migrant workers mainly, to fill 200 positions in Taiwan in their factories.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/02
By: Wang Shu-fen and Frances Huang 

London, Dec. 1 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL), one of Taiwan’s international carriers, said Friday that it will provide code-sharing services with Air France in 2018 as the first step for the airline to serve the Taipei-Paris route.

CAL Chairman Ho Nuan-hsuan (何煖軒) made the comment as the carrier celebrated the resumption of direct flights between Taipei and London after its flight arrived in the U.K. capital.

Currently, EVA Airways, a rival of CAL, is the only carrier to serve the Taipei-Paris route, with one round-trip flight per day, which it has offered since 1993.

Formosa Plastics follows Foxconn in responding to Trump’s love call

Nikkei Asian Review
Date: December 3, 2017

TAIPEI — Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan’s largest petrochemical producer, is aggressively expanding

how much it invests in the U.S., where it has $14.4 billion worth of projects underway.

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The Taipei-based conglomerate earlier this month sold a 2% or so stake in affiliate Nanya Technology, pocketing 4.8 billion New Taiwan dollars ($160 million). FPG previously controlled more than 26% of the world’s No. 4 DRAM producer.

FPG has not unveiled where the money will be directed, but it is likely to supplement the financing of the ongoing U.S. projects.    [FULL STORY]