Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/23/2020
By: Wang Shu-ching and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, June 23 (CNA) Taiwan's food and beverage industry came roaring back in May with a monthly sales growth of 29 percent, the largest single-month gain on record, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Wednesday.

Food and beverage vendors saw their sales rise by 29 percent to NT$61.9 billion (US$2.1 billion) in May, although the figure was 8.7 percent lower than the NT$67.9 billion recorded in the same month last year, according to MOEA data.

The strong monthly growth was driven by the reduced risk of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Taiwan, as well as the Labor Day holiday weekend and family outings to celebrate Mother's Day, Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟), deputy head of the MOEA's statistics department, said in a press release.

The country's retail industry also recovered in May, with sales growing by a monthly 8.3 percent to NT$300.8 billion, as consumers flocked back to shops and malls, Wang said.
[FULL  STORY]

Worries had surged that TSM would be hit hard by the U.S. government's rules regarding working with Huawei.

The Motley Fool
Date: Jun 22, 2020
By: Donna Fuscaldo

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) has made up its lost business from Huawei after the U.S. government put restrictions on working with the Chinese smartphone maker. 

Kung Ming-hsin, head of the National Development Council in Taiwan told reporters, including Reuters, that while TSM can no longer accept orders from Huawei, the lost business has already been made up from other customers. The government official noted that the U.S. isn't calling on Taiwan to sever its ties with China but is going after Huawei because of a lack of transparency and too tight of a relationship with the Chinese government.    [FULL  STORY]

PB Tech, biggest computing, IT retailer in New Zealand, has had IoT success in agriculture, transportation

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/22
By: Eric Chang, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Asus Australia is teaming up with PB Tech to distribute the Taiwanese company's internet of things (IoT) products in New Zealand.

PB Tech is the largest computing and information technology retailer in New Zealand with 11 stores and service centers in the North Island and one in Christchurch, according to Reseller News. The retailer is the only distributor of Asus interprocess communication (IPC) products in the New Zealand market, according to an Asus press release.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/22/2020
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Ko Lin

Taipei, June 22 (CNA) Budget airline Scoot announced on Monday that it will resume flights between Singapore and Taipei starting July 5, following a temporary suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The carrier, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, said it will operate one flight a week between the two destinations using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

The flight will depart from Changi Airport every Sunday at 9 a.m. bound for Taoyuan International Airport and depart from Taiwan on the return leg at 3:05 p.m. the same day.

Passengers will be required to wear a face mask for the entire journey, and be subject to temperature checks before boarding, the company said.    [FULL  STORY]

RELATIVELY UPBEAT OUTLOOK: Government spending would drive economic growth and private investment would increase 3.2% year-on-year, a researcher said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 23, 2020
By: Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter

Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) yesterday trimmed its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth to 1.8 percent this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, down from the 2 percent it predicted in March.

The company said that it expects investment and government spending to cushion the nation’s economy from the effects of the pandemic, making its forecast the most optimistic of all released forecasts.

The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) predicted 1.67 percent growth, the central bank forecast 1.52 percent growth and DBS Bank Ltd said that it expects a contraction of 1 percent.

“We perhaps are more upbeat for [the] local economy than the government and our peers, but there are data that support our optimism,” said Hsu Chih-chiang (徐之強), an economics professor at National Central University who heads a research team commissioned by Cathay Financial.    [FULL  STORY]

But local experts lament that recommendations in the US-produced document may be easier said than done   

Higher Education Times
Date: June 21, 2020
By: Joyce Lau

Sweeping changes are needed in the higher education system if Taiwan wants to boost modernisation, internationalisation and industry ties in the face of numerous challenges, according to a US government white paper.

The self-governed island has a relative lack of natural resources and suffers from diplomatic isolation and strained ties with its much larger neighbour, mainland China.

The white paper acknowledges some of these shortcomings, stating that Taiwan “is too small to be the best at everything, but it can become the world’s leader in specific sectors or technologies” if it relies on its strengths, such as the talents of its 23 million population, a tech industry that has made it a world leader in semiconductors and its high level of gender equality.

Taiwan’s universities will sprout up and out under latest state policy

But to reach its goals, Taiwan needs to make English an official language for work and governance, and reach out to the rest of the world, the paper suggests.   [FULL  STORY]

Mango sales up 17% compared to same period last year despite COVID-19 pandemic

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/21
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) on Sunday (June 21) attended an activity in Taipei promoting the 2020 Tainan International Mango Festival (台南國際芒果節), saying that the export of Tainan mangoes has increased this year compared to past years and encouraging people in Taipei to take vacations down south where the mangoes are abundant.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the export of Tainan mangoes has so far year-over-year increased in 2020, CNA quoted Huang as saying. As of mid-June, when Tainan mangoes had not yet reached high season, the city had shipped a total of 547 tons to fulfill export orders, which is an eight to nine percent increase compared to the same period last year, the mayor said.

The mayor attributed the origin of both the Irwin mangoes (愛文芒果) and the Jinhuang mangoes (金煌芒果), which are popular in Japan and Singapore, respectively, to Tainan. He encouraged busy Taipei people who are craving mangoes to take vacations in the southern city.

During the 2020 Tainan International Mango Festival running from June 26 to July 12, various mango-themed activities will take place in districts where the fruit actually grows within the city.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/21/2020
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, June 21 (CNA) In cooperation with economics-related agencies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has helped increase foreign investment in Taiwan and procurement by foreign companies in the first quarter of the year, compared with the same period of 2019.

In the January-March period, foreign investment increased by 40 percent and procurement by foreign companies from Taiwan surged by 109 percent year-on-year, the ministry said in a statement released on Saturday.

MOFA, through its more than 100 offices overseas, has helped attract foreign investment to Taiwan amounting to US$350 million for the first three months of the year, compared to US$250 million recorded in the same period of last year, the ministry said.

On the other hand, foreign companies' procurements from Taiwan reached US$230 million in Q1, compared to the US$110 million recorded during the same period last year, the MOFA said.    [FULL  STORY]