Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/13
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, March 13 (CNA) Shares of Ta Chong Securities (大眾證券) soared Monday morning after Taishin Securities announced over the weekend that it planned to acquire the company at a premium of almost 9 percent, dealers said.

However, the upturn in Ta Chong shares seemed limited as the stock had already been gaining significantly in recent sessions on speculations over the acquisition deal, dealers said.

As of 10:30 a.m., shares of Ta Chong Securities were up 6.31 percent at NT$10.95 (US$0.35) on the local over-the-counter market, while the index had climbed 0.72 percent to 134.99 points.    [FULL  STORY]

Danny Huang, marketing manager of family-owned Pin Shiang Tea Co Ltd, talked about how the Mingjian Township, Nantou County-based wholesale tea maker has transformed over a decade into a famous brand during an interview with ‘Taipei Times’ staff reporter Lauly Li at Foodex Japan in Tokyo last week

Taipei Times
 Mar 13, 2017

Taipei Times (TT): What prompted Pin Shiang Tea Co Ltd (品香茶業), a wholesale tea

company, to establish its own brands in the past few years?

Danny Huang (黃立倫): The family business was in a dire situation when I joined in 2007. At that time, our sales were plunging because of changes in Taiwanese drinking habits, which accounted for between 60 percent and 70 percent of Pin Shiang’s annual production of 17 tonnes of tea leaves. Coffee, handmade drinks and bottled teas have gradually trumped tea as people’s beverage of choice. On the other hand, the local industry has continued to face excessive supply due to rising imports of lower-end tea leaves from Vietnam, even though Taiwan produced 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes of fine tea leaves last year. In view of the changes in local culture, I believed Pin Shiang needed to find a new way of thinking about fine Taiwanese tea and decided to establish two brands — Tasteful Tea (細品香茗) in 2008 and Daebete (茶米茶) in 2013 — to proactively communicate with consumers.    [INTERVIEW CONTINUES]

The China Post
Date: March 11, 2017
By: Kuan-lin Liu

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Leading Japanese cosmetics brand SOFINA unveiled its second

global Beauty Power Station at the Uni-President Mall in Taipei on Friday.

The Beauty Power Station consists of two high-tech machines that conduct scans and deep analysis of a user’s skin in order to provide what SOFINA calls the “Beauty Power Lesson,” or recommendations on skincare regiments and product use.

Local and renowned beauty expert “Teacher Kevin” noted that while nowadays a lot of Taiwanese women took care of their skin with products, the volume of cosmeceuticals — cosmetics that have medicinal properties — applied often fails to make any difference.

“This could be because of a wrong choice of cosmeceuticals or a wrong skincare regiment. It could even be that there are some issues with your skin that you cannot see with your eyes,” Kevin explained, saying that this is where the power station comes into play.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/11
By: Jeffrey Wu and S.C. Chang

Taipei, March 11 (CNA) Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (台塑石化), a privately owned fuel supplier, announced Saturday it will lower its octane and diesel fuel prices by NT$0.3 (US$0.0097) and NT$0.4 per liter respectively starting at 1:00 a.m. Monday.

With the latest adjustment, Formosa Petrochem’s gas stations will be selling super diesel for NT$21.9 per liter and prices for 92 octane unleaded, 95 octane unleaded, and 98 octane unleaded will be NT$24.5, NT$26 and NT$28.3 respectively.

International crude oil prices moved lower after reports surfaced that crude inventory in the United States was higher than expected, Formosa Petrochem said.
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: March 11, 2017
By: Christine Chou

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Power solutions provider Delta Electronics (台達電) Chairman Yancey Hai (海英俊) said Friday the company will invest more in projects related to data centers, electronic vehicles and industrial automation (IA).

Already a well-known local technology firm, Delta is now increasingly seen by the market as a promising “Tesla Concept Stock,” as the world’s most celebrated electric car maker Tesla Motors’ expanding presence in Taiwan is believed to benefit local manufacturers in its supply chain, including Delta, a power system supplier for Tesla.

“The economy is doing a lot better than the previous quarter,” said Hai, after the company disclosed its financial report for 2016.    [FULL  STORY]

More expensive to outsource clothing production to China, says Taiwanese designer Charin Yeh (葉珈伶).

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/03/10
By: Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei (Taiwan News)— Taiwanese designers used to outsource the majority of their

clothing production to China, but gone are the days of cheap manufacturing across the strait, fashion designer Charin Yeh (葉珈伶) told a UDN reporter.

“Made in China” clothing used to be associated with cheap, substandard quality clothing, but this is no longer the case, said the Taiwanese designer Yeh at her brand’s recent Spring/Summer 2017 fashion show.

“Costs to outsource production to China are now far more expensive than in Taiwan,” said Yeh, who is also the owner of designer brand CHARINYEH.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/10
By: Jackson Chang and Frances Huang

Taipei, March 10 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chip maker, on Friday reported consolidated sales of NT$71.42 billion (US$2.30 billion) for February, its lowest monthly figure in 10 months.

The company said the NT$71.42 billion represented a 6.8 percent monthly drop but was 19.9 percent higher than a year earlier.

The February figure was the lowest level since April 2016, when TSMC reported sales of NT$66.84 billion, the company’s statistics showed.

In the first two months of this year, TSMC’s consolidated sales totaled NT$148.04 billion, up 13.5 percent from a year earlier, the chip maker said.    [FULL  STORY]