Business and Finance

Formosa Plastics clears Vietnam inspection

The China Post
Date: April 5, 2017
By: Kuan-lin Liu

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Nearly a year after Formosa Plastics Group was found severely polluting the waters along a 200-kilometer coastal stretch in central Vietnam, the Vietnamese government is reportedly considering letting the Taiwanese plastics company resume operations in the country.

According to Vietnamese media, representatives from Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ha Tinh Province, and the country’s science community formed a working committee several days ago to determine whether Formosa Plastics Group had made the necessary changes to its Ha Tinh factory in compliance with the country’s orders.

According to the latest statement from the ministry, Formosa Plastics Group has complied with the Vietnam government’s demands and the central coastline’s ecosystem has returned to its former state.

“Formosa Plastics has installed an automatic warning system to control air pollution on its boiler. The waste gas figures on its waste chimney will also be recorded. At the moment, these figures completely comply with the Ministry of Resources and Environment’s standards,” Hoang Duong Tung, deputy director general of the Vietnam Environment Administration, was quoted in local press as saying.    [FULL  STORY]

Closed Oppo plant re-opened after one week

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/03
By: Jaose Kalathil, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

New Delhi (Taiwan News) – Chinese mobile maker Oppo’s assembling centre in Noida

(Image courtesy: Oppo India)

was re-opened Monday after it was closed for a week after police filed a case against its Chinese production manager, Suhahu under Section 2 of the Prevention of Insult to National Honor Act, 1971. The employees had accused him of tearing off and throwing a photo of the Indian flag into the dustbin. A team of police personnel and armed security guards were deployed outside the office and at the entry gate. He was later sacked by the company. A group of jobseekers who were at the company office Monday was asked to come some other time.

On Thursday, the police had said that they were examining the company’s CCTV camera footage which showed Suhahu throwing ‘something’ from the table into the dustbin. The footage, however, is not clear what he threw into the bin. The company has about 4,000 employees, who work in two shifts – 8 am to 7 pm and 8 pm to 7 am.
[FULL  STORY]

Over 98% of consumers feel pinch of food price hikes: survey

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/03
By: Jeffery Wu and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 3 (CNA) More than 98 percent of consumers said they are feeling the pinch

(CNA file photo)

of recent hikes in food prices, according to the results of a survey released by group purchasing website ihergo (愛合購) on Monday.

Among the survey’s 644 valid questionnaires collected in March, 98.8 percent of respondents said their spending on food and beverages has gone up as vendors have raised their product prices, ihergo said.

Food prices have been on the rise in Taiwan in recent months, in particular after the government implemented new work rules in December that gave employers less flexibility to arrange work schedules and added to their labor costs.   [FULL  STORY]

Ta Chen to buy Empire in US expansion

NICKELS AND DIMES:A definitive merger agreement costing about US$58 million has been agreed to in the hope that Ta Chen would be able to expand its US market share

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 04, 2017
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

Ta Chen Stainless Pipe Co Ltd (大成不鏽鋼), a leading global supplier and mass distributor of stainless, aluminum and nickel alloy products, is to acquire Empire Resources Inc for US$58 million to expand the Taiwanese company’s presence in the US market.

“The merger and acquisition [M&A] deal is expected to enlarge the company’s operational scale, efficiency and competitiveness in the industry,” Ta Chen said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Saturday.

Ta Chen’s US subsidiary, Ta Chen International Inc, is the largest mass distributor of stainless metal products with a 30 percent market share in the US, while NASDAQ-listed Empire is the second-biggest, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News said, quoting Ta Chen officials.

The report said the deal could secure Ta Chen’s leadership position in the US market.
[FULL  STORY]

Starting up startups

The China Post
Date: April 4, 2017
By: CNA

CNA — Yin Hsiang Capital (銀翔資本) General Manager Yu Hsiang-sheng (余祥生) poses for a photo on Monday, April 3. The company has been selected as part of Taipei City Government’s Angel Investor Subsidy Plan, which provides financial support to incentivize venture capital companies and consulting companies to invest in startups.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Business Quick Take

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 03, 2017.
By: Staff writer, with CNA

ENVIRONMENT

WRA orders water rationing

First-phase water rationing is to be implemented in Tainan and Chiayi County from Wednesday, as heavy rains over most of the nation on Friday were insufficient to replenish water supplies there. State-run Taiwan Water Corp (台灣自來水) said it will carry out the measure as ordered by the Water Resources Agency (WRA). First-phase water rationing began in Kaohsiung on March 20, and it began in Taoyuan and Hsinchu, as well as New Taipei City’s Linkou (林口), Banciao (板橋) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts, early last month. Under the measure, water pressure is reduced between 11pm and 6am, Taiwan Water said, adding that government agencies and state-run companies will be barred from turning on fountains, watering plants and washing the exterior of their buildings with water from the mains supply.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Vietnam’s fourth largest foreign investor

Vietnam is among the six targeted countries to be included in the first phase of the government’s “New Southbound Policy”

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/02 17:17
By: Wendy Lee , Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – According to the latest statistics published by Vietnam’s

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

General Statistics Office, Taiwan’s investors stand as the fourth largest source of foreign capital in Vietnam, trailing only behind South Korea, Singapore, and China.

In the first quarter of this year, Vietnam attracted over US$7.71 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), a 77.6 percent increase from the same period last year, with most of the investment focused on processing and manufacturing sector and real estate sector, registering US$6.54 billion and US$343.69 million in foreign investment, respectively.

As many as 71 countries invested in the Southeast Asian country in the first three months of 2017, according to the statistics, with South Korea ranked first in terms of foreign investment capital at US$3.71 billion, accounting for 48.6% of the total FDI.
[FULL  STORY]

CPC to raise fuel prices this week

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/02
By: Tsai Yi-chu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, April 2 (CNA) State-owned oil refiner CPC Corp., Taiwan (中油) announced Sunday that it will increase its diesel and gasoline prices by NT$0.1 (US$0.003) per liter starting at midnight to reflect an uptick in international crude oil prices.

After the hike, fuel prices at CPC pumps will be NT$21.3 per liter for super diesel, NT$23.7 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$25.2 per liter for 95 octane unleaded, and NT$27.2 for 98 octane unleaded, the company said.

International oil prices rose this past week due to a severe disruption to Libyan oil supplies and optimism that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC producers could extend a deal to cut output to the end of the year, CPC said.    [FULL  STORY]

Banks’ US lending up as exposure to China falls

LENDING US A HAND:In June last year, the US replaced China as the biggest debtor to Taiwan, a trend that has continued due to the US’ stronger economy and dollar

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 03, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Lending extended by Taiwanese banks to the US continued to hit a record high at the end of last year on the back of a recovery in the US economy and a stronger US dollar, the central bank said in a report issued on Wednesday.

However, the banks’ exposure to China kept falling, reflecting slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy and the weakness of the yuan against the US dollar, the report said.

At the end of December last year, outstanding international claims by Taiwanese banks to the US on a direct risk basis had risen to US$69.68 billion from US$67.17 billion recorded at the end of September, the report said.    [FULL  STORY]

26 energy-efficient light bulbs fail quality tests

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/01
By: Yang Shu-min, Jeffrey Wu and Y.F. Low

Taipei, April 1 (CNA) Twenty-six types of energy-efficient light bulbs, including several sold by name brands Osram and Philips, have been ordered to be removed from shelves after they failed quality tests, the Cabinet’s Consumer Protection Committee said Saturday.

A total of 82 types of energy-efficient light bulbs supplied by 15 brands were included in the tests, which mainly focused on their lifespan and brightness, according to the committee, which conducted the tests in cooperation with the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

While 10 failed both the lifespan and brightness tests, 14 failed only the lifespan test and two failed only the brightness test, translating to an overall failure rate of 32 percent, the bureau said.    [FULL  ST5ORY]