Business and Finance

Financial sector urges eased lending rules for long term care

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/08/08
By: Tsai Yi-chu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) The local financial sector has expressed hope that the government will ease rules on lending in a bid to facilitate the local long term care business in an aging society, according to a white paper from the sector.

In the white paper, in which suggestions are made to the government for the development of the financial sector, the Taiwan Financial Services Roundtable (TFSR), which was founded by local financial associations and related organizations, said that the government should allow banks to extend more loans to the local long term care industry.

The TFSR said that the banking sector should be granted an exemption from the restrictions imposed by the Banking Act in their lending to the local property market if the money is to be used in the country’s long term care business such as the construction of long term care villages for the elderly.    [FULL  STORY]

Typhoons, heat drive 0.77% CPI increase

MILD INFLATION:Lower prices for computer products and telecommunication services helped mitigate the pain of higher food and medical costs, the DGBAS said

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 09, 2017
B:y Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The consumer price index (CPI) picked up 0.77 percent last month from a year earlier as two typhoons and hot weather pushed up vegetable prices, even though consumer electronics products cost less, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

The inflationary gauge edged up 0.21 percent last month after seasonal adjustments, suggesting stable consumer prices and giving the central bank room to hold monetary policy steady to support the economy.

Food costs, which account for 25 percent of the CPI weighting, gained 1.23 percent, driven mainly by a 7.03 percent increase in vegetable prices, the DGBAS report showed.

“The hot weather is unfavorable for growing vegetables and the two typhoons last month further disrupted supply,” DGBAS senior executive officer Jasmine Mei (梅家瑗) told a media briefing.    [FULL  STORY]

‘iPhone 8 won’t be cheap’: Foxconn unit exec makes prediction in Weibo post, then deletes it

The China Post
Date: August 8, 2017
By: The China Post

Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8 is not going to be cheap because of the high cost of its new display, said a senior executive of a subsidiary of Foxconn, a major contract manufacturer of iPhones.

“The yield rate of the free shape OLED is only 60 percent!” said Luo Zhongsheng (羅忠生), general manager of Sharp’s cellphone business, in a post on the Chinese microblog Weibo.

“The cutting of free shape OLED is apparently highly difficult and of course will not be cheap. I estimate that iPhone 8 will not be cheap.”

He deleted the post hours later.    [FULL  STORY]

President Tsai calls for Taiwan-UK free trade agreement

President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan and the U.K. should prioritize concluding a free trade or bilateral investment agreement

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/08/07
By: Taiwan Today,Agencies

President Tsai Ing-wen said Aug. 3 that Taiwan and the U.K. should prioritize

President Tsai Ing-wen shares a lighter moment with British MP Andrew Rosindell at the Office of the President. (Courtesy of Office of the President)

concluding a free trade or bilateral investment agreement so as to create more win-win opportunities and inject fresh impetus into the economies of both sides.

Over the past year, Taiwan and the U.K. have laid the foundation for such cooperation through increasingly frequent exchanges by high-level officials and lawmakers in areas like industrial development and municipal governance, Tsai said. It is important to maintain this momentum and keep relations going from strength to strength, she added.

Tsai made the remarks while receiving an 11-member delegation from the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group at the Office of the President in Taipei City. Led by group vice chairman and Tory member of parliament Andrew Rosindell, the delegation is in Taiwan July 30 to Aug. 5 on a cultural, economic, political and cross-strait fact-finding visit.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan exports grow for 10th straight month in July (update)

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/08/07
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang

Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) Taiwan’s exports grew year-on-year for the 10th consecutive

CNA file photo

month in July, as global demand remained solid with the world economy on a steady road to recovery, according to data released Monday by the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

Taiwan’s outbound sales totaled US$27.11 billion in July, up 12.5 percent from a year earlier, after a 13 percent year-on-year increase in June, while imports grew 6.5 percent from a year earlier to US$21.74 billion, the MOF data showed.

Taiwan had a trade surplus of US$5.37 billion during the month, up US$1.69 billion year-on-year, the MOF data showed.

It was the first time Taiwan’s exports topped the US$27 billion mark since November 2014 and also the second consecutive month in which exports grew at a double-digit increase.    [FULL  STORY]

Formosa Plastics July sales surge 14.6%

UPTREND:The company and three other major Formosa Plastics Group units saw aggregate sales for last month rise 7.1 percent to NT$119.36 billion from a year ago

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 08, 2017
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), the nation’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride, yesterday reported that revenue last month increased 14.6 percent year-on-year to NT$16.98 billion (NT$561.5 million), the highest growth rate among the four major units of the Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), primarily due to increased output.

The company’s plant in Kaohsiung’s Linyuan District (林園) reached full capacity last month, helping lift sales volume by 16,000 tonnes and revenue by NT$590 million over the period, Formosa Plastics said in a statement.

However, on a monthly basis, sales declined 5.4 percent from June, which the company attributed to declining orders from its Indian customers.

“Our Indian clients seemed hesitant to place orders for imported goods last month, as they were trying to adapt to challenges following recent tax reforms,” Formosa Plastics chairman Jason Lin (林健男) said at a press conference in Taipei.
[FULL  STORY]

Microsoft Surface Laptop becomes available in Taiwan Aug 8

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/08/06
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Microsoft Taiwan announced on Friday that the Surface

Microsoft Taiwan announced on Friday that the Surface Laptop will become available in Taiwan on August 8, Father’s Day in the country. (By Central News Agency)

Laptop, one of the Surface family products that Microsoft wishes to leverage to surpass Apple, will become available in Taiwan on August 8, Father’s Day in the country.

Microsoft Taiwan general manager Davis Tsai (蔡恩全) said that judging from his observation, the visibility of Surface family devices has exceeded 30% in places such as airport VIP lounges, cinemas or coffee shops.

He said he used to see many business people using Apple products, but now Surface devices have been catching up with their Apple counterparts and will hopefully surpass them in the near future.    [FULL  STORY]

Wistron expands Indian capacity for small iPhone

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 07, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA, NEW DELHI

Taiwan-based contract electronics maker Wistron Corp (緯創) is preparing to expand its production base in India to produce the next generation of iPhones, the iPhone SE series, according to sources in the South Asian country.

The sources told CNA on Thursday that Apple Inc has set its sights on the growing Indian market by pushing for shipments of the smaller smartphone model in a bid to double the iPhone’s market share in the country over the next five years.

Apple has signed up Wistron to assemble the iPhone SE after the Taiwanese firm started to produce the model in India in May, targeting markets around the world, the sources said.

The sources said that the Taiwanese firm has been preparing to add a new iPhone SE production line to its plant in Bengaluru, capital of the state of Karnataka.
[FULL  STORY]

Telecom carrier fined NT$1 million for poor service

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/08/03
By: Central News Agency

Asia Pacific Telecom Co. (亞太電信), one of the major telecom service providers in

(By Central News Agency)

Taiwan, has copped a fine of NT$1 million (US$33,003) for the poor quality of its 3G service, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said Wednesday.

NCC spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said Asia Pacific Telecom shut down some of its 3G Code Division Multiple Access (3G CDMA) base stations without notifying its subscribers and that the closures had resulted in poor signal transmission.

The NT$1 million fine against Asia Pacific Telecom is the first penalty imposed in Taiwan for such a violation, according to the NCC.    [FULL  STORY]