Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/07
By: Romulo Huang
Taipei, Dec. 7 (CNA) The U.S. dollar fell against the Taiwan dollar Wednesday, shedding NT$0.050 to close at NT$31.902.
Turnover totaled US$454 million during the trading session.
The greenback opened at the day’s high of NT$31.980, and moved to a low of NT$31.868 before the close. [SOURCE]
CARS, PHONES:Qualcomm Technologies executive Raj Talluri said mobile phones would continue to be its biggest business, while it has plans for ‘smart’ automobiles
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 08, 2016
By: Lisa Wang / Staff reporter
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest handset chip designer, yesterday said it is not considering licensing patents linked to the Internet of Things (IoT) at the moment — as it does in the mobile phone area — given the greater diversity of IoT applications.
Patent licensing has been a major source of profit for the San Diego, California-based chipmaker, with the business accounting for more than two-thirds of its net profit for the last fiscal year, it said.
The licensing business focuses on the mobile phone area, given that the IoT market is fragmentary, the firm said.
“IoT is not just one topic. There are many different areas in IoT. For example: drones, robots, VR [virtual reality] headsets, automobiles,” Raj Talluri, senior vice president of Qualcomm Technologies Inc’s IoT division, told a media briefing in Taipei. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/07
By: Jalen Chung and Evelyn Kao
Taipei, Dec. 7 (CNA) Shares in Taiwan closed slightly higher on Wednesday, extending the 
momentum from the previous day, but moved in a narrow range throughout the session, with gains capped ahead of strong technical resistance around the 9,300-point mark.
Boosted by electronics shares, the weighted index opened high and approached the 9,300 mark before giving up early gains.
The rise came on the back of a stable performance by electronics shares following a record high posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average overnight, dealers said.
The weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TAIEX) closed up 13.12 points, or 0.14 percent, at 9,263.89 on Wednesday, after moving between 9,299.92 and 9,247.50 on turnover of NT$64.73 billion (US$2.03 billion). [FULL STORY]
CHINA, ASEAN:Growth momentum was particularly noticeable in China and ASEAN, which accounted for 83 percent of the uptick, the Ministry of Finance said in a report
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 08, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter
The nation’s exports rose 12.1 percent from a year earlier to US$25.34 billion last month, advancing at the fastest pace in nearly four years, as demand for electronic components used in latest-generation technology remains strong ahead of Western and Lunar New Year holidays, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The pickup, accelerating from a 9.4 percent increase a month earlier, confirms a stable recovery for the nation’s export-oriented economy, which might have fared better than forecast last month, the ministry said.
“Exports are set to recover faster than projected for this quarter and beyond thanks to strong demand for smartphones and the latest electronic components,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said.
Exports to all destinations improved as more partners emerged from a global slowdown, while all product categories except transportation tools registered positive movements, Tsai said. [FULL STORY]
GROWTH:Formosa Plastics Corp raised its production volume of acrylic esters and superabsorbent polymers, and benefited from rises in crude oil and propylene prices
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 07, 2016
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter
Four major units of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday reported combined revenues of NT$116.6 billion (US$3.65 billion) for last month, up 4 percent from October and 5.7 percent from the same period last year, attributing the rise to improving utilization rates and rising crude oil prices.
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), the group’s flagship company, posted the highest sales growth among the four units.
Sales at the company rose 15.1 percent month-on-month and 20.9 percent year-on-year to NT$17.4 billion last month, company data showed.
“The performance was due to an increase in the production volume of the company’s major products, including acrylic esters and superabsorbent polymers,” Formosa Plastics Corp chairman Jason Lin (林健男) told a news conference in Taipei. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/06
By: Romulo Huang
Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan remain broadly
CNA file photo
optimistic about export prospects despite global economic volatility, according to a recent global study commissioned by FedEx Express (FedEx), one of the world’s largest express transportation companies.
In total, 79 percent of local SMEs saw stable or increased exports over the past year, generating an average of NT$39.4 million (US$1.23 million) in revenue and accounting for 70 percent of overall revenue for the year, the report shows.
About 42% of SMEs forecast average growth in exports of 17 percent for the coming year with e-commerce fueling the optimism, it adds.
“The study proves the continued strength and agility of SMEs as they steadily weather the macroeconomic environment,” said Michael Chu, managing director of FedEx Express, Taiwan. [FULL STORY]
TYPHOON EFFECT:As food costs account for 25% of CPI makeup, households with lower incomes were hardest hit, as they spend a higher proportion of available funds on food
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 07, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter
The consumer price index (CPI) gained 1.97 percent last month from a year earlier, the fastest rise in eight months, as vegetable and fruit prices remained high due to continued supply shortages caused by typhoons in September, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
The increase in the headline inflationary gauge might not spur the central bank to raise interest rates later this month, as such a move could derail the economy’s fragile recovery, economists said.
“Of major consumer items, the food category posed the biggest increase of 6.42 percent as the effect of bad weather lingered, pushing fruit and vegetable costs up by 37.53 and 9.56 percent respectively,” DGBAS Deputy Director Tsai Yu-tai (蔡鈺泰) told a news conference.
Together, fruit and vegetable price hikes lifted CPI by 1.44 percentage points last month, more than offsetting the benefits of cheaper electricity and gas costs, Tsai said. [FULL STORY]
The China Post
Date: December 7, 2016
By: CNA
TAIPEI — Shares of Taiwan-based Largan Precision Co. (大立光), a smartphone camera lens supplier to Apple Inc., climbed Tuesday on its November sales data and upbeat outlook for December, dealers said.
The gains posted by Largan, a large-cap stock, helped pull the broader market out of the doldrums of the recent sessions after high-tech stocks rose on Wall Street overnight, they said.
Shares of Largan rose 2.65 percent to close at NT$3,675.00 (US$115) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) on Tuesday, while the weighted index ended up 0.98 percent at 9,250.77. Largan remained the most expensive stock on the Taiwan market and was the 10th largest cap stock on the main board as of Monday.
“Based on its revenue report, Largan joined other TWSE blue chips in posting significant gains today, pushing up the broader market and helping the weighted index recover from its losses in recent sessions,” Mega International Investment Services Corp. analyst Alex Huang said. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/05
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang
Taipei, Dec. 5 (CNA) The depreciation of the euro, which is one of the currencies in the Taiwanese
CNA file photo
central bank’s foreign exchange reserves’ portfolio, dragged down Taiwan’s forex reserves in November, the bank said Monday.
Citing data, the central bank said that Taiwan’s forex reserves at the end of November stood at US$434.35 billion, down US$915 million from a month earlier, marking the second consecutive month for the country’s foreign reserves to register a fall.
Before a fall in October, Taiwan’s forex reserves hit a record high for the eighth consecutive month in September.
According to the central bank, an about 3 percent fall of the euro against the U.S. dollar in November pushed down Taiwan’s forex reserves as the European currency was converted into the greenback in the central bank’s portfolio. [FULL STORY]
GROWING:Airtec has purchased a plot of land in China’s Ningbo to construct a new production plant in the nation, where it manufactures valves and air source processors
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 06, 2016
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter
Pneumatic components supplier Airtac International Group (亞德客) yesterday said it plans to increase capital spending next year to NT$2 billion (US$62.5 million), from this year’s NT$1.5 billion, to build up capacity.
“We plan to increase overall capacity by between 3 and 5 percent next year, in a bid to satisfy our customers’ increasing needs,” company spokesman Ivan Tsao (曹永祥) said by telephone.
Airtac operates three production bases in Tainan and China’s Guangdong Province and Ningbo city, with an annual production value of about 1.7 billion yuan (US$247 million).
The company this month bought a 154,305m2 plot of land in Ningbo that would be used for a second plant there, Tsao said. [FULL STORY]
