Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/27
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Nov. 27 (CNA) Taiwan’s state-owned fuel supplier, CPC Corp., Taiwan (中油), said Sunday it will raise its gasoline and diesel prices in the coming week due to rising international crude oil prices.

CPC said it will increase gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.7 and NT$0.8 per liter, respectively, starting at midnight Sunday after global crude prices rose on optimism that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will cut output at a meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30.

After the adjustment, fuel prices at CPC gas stations islandwide will climb to NT$20.9 per liter for super diesel, NT$23.3 per liter for 92 octane unleaded, NT$24.8 per liter for 95 unleaded and NT$26.8 per liter for 98 unleaded.

The company’s main competitor, Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (台塑石化), a privately owned fuel supplier, announced identical price hikes on Saturday.    [FULL  STORY]

TEN AIRCRAFT:As the airline tries to claw back a down payment, its shares are plummeting, with orders to sell 81.75 million TransAsia shares still on the books on Friday

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 28, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空) is negotiating with Airbus Group SE over the possibility of recovering

NT$1.2 billion (US$37.57 million) it has made in down payments for 10 new aircraft, the carrier said yesterday.

TransAsia made the statement in response to speculation by some aviation industry insiders that as the company has announced its dissolution, it will lose the down payments for the new aircraft, which they estimated at NT$5 billion.

TransAsia placed orders for six A321neo aircraft in 2010 and four A330-800neo aircraft in 2014. They were scheduled to be delivered starting in 2018. The two models are officially priced at more than US$70 million and US$250 million respectively.

According to the insiders, in an aircraft purchase deal, the manufacturer usually gives a discount to the buyer, but requires a large down payment equal to about one-third of the purchase price, which is usually kept secret.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/26
By: Yu Hsiao-han, Huang Chiao-wen and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) The peak year-end shopping season is approaching, and several retailers have joined with the government to find the thousands of new workers they need to meet increased demand, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Saturday.

The MOL said its Workforce Development Agency (WDA) is planning to hold a job fair in collaboration with many retailers in December to help them hire the nearly 5,000 additional workers they need.

The WDA, however, has already launched the recruitment drive online on its TaiwanJobs (台灣就業通) recruitment platform to help these retailers attract new blood.

According to the MOL, the retailers looking for people include liquor chain Drinks Wines & Spirits Co. (橡木桶洋酒), home furnishing chain Test Rite Retail Co., which operates the HOLA (特力屋) brand, supermarket chain Wellcome (頂好超市), and organic food provider Cotton Field Organic Co. (棉花糖生機園地).    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/26
By: Yang Shu-min and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (台塑石化), a privately owned fuel supplier in Taiwan, said Saturday that it will increase its gasoline and diesel prices again next week after international crude oil prices continued to rise this week.

Optimism toward a production cut by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) eased fears of a supply glut among traders to push crude oil prices higher on the global market.

That led Formosa Petrochemical to announce price increases of NT$0.7 (US$0.02) per liter for gasoline and of NT$0.8 per liter for diesel next week, starting at 1 a.m. Monday.

Formosa Petrochemical will raising fuel prices for a second consecutive week after increasing gasoline and diesel prices this past week by NT$0.1 per liter.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/26
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) Shares of Taiwan-based TransAsia Airways (復興航空) have been downgraded to

the status of “full delivery” stock after the carrier said Tuesday it is closing down because of unsustainable heavy losses, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).

The downgrade in status for TransAsia shares became effective on Wednesday after trading of the stock was suspended for one day on Tuesday, when investors waited for a decision on the fate of the company.

TransAsia shares fell 7.14 percent on Monday on speculation that the carrier might shut down.

Following TransAsia’s announcement Tuesday that it would stop its flight operations, effective immediately, and would dissolve the company, the TWSE decided to put TransAsia shares in the full delivery stock category starting Wednesday, when trading of the stock resumed.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 27, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Formosa Plastics Group Chairman Wang Wen-yuan (王文淵) said Saturday that his

group would not foray into the civil aviation industry, joking that he “can’t manage beautiful flight attendants.”

Wang made the remark when reporters asked whether Formosa Plastics was interested in taking over the financially-troubled TransAsia Airways, which made a surprise announcement of its immediate dissolution on Nov. 22.

Market observers named Formosa Plastics as one of several conglomerates likely to take over TransAsia in a bid to expand its business empire.

The group has businesses in land and marine transportation sectors, in addition to its core petrochemical business.

‘Flight attendants hard to manage’

“I’m an outsider to airline operations, and I also cannot manage beautiful flight attendants. This is why Formosa Plastics has not ventured into the aviation business and will not do so in the future,” the Formosa Plastics boss said.

Wang said he was not familiar with the Lin family, referring to TransAsia Chairman Vincent Lin and his father Lin Hsiao-hsin.    [FULL  STORY]

Source: Taiwan Today
Publication Date: November 25, 2016

Taiwan’s average level of wealth per adult is estimated at US$172,847, well above that of most countries

in the Asia-Pacific and similar to that of Western Europe, according to the Global Wealth Report 2016 released Nov. 23 by Credit Suisse Research Institute.

The seventh annual survey of 215 countries puts Taiwan ahead of the Asia-Pacific average of US$46,325 and global mean of US$52,819. As an “Asian Tiger,” the nation is categorized as a high-income economy with “satisfactory” wealth data quality.

But the result is down 5.4 percent from last year, a trend attributed by the CSRI to falls in Taiwan’s market capitalization, housing price index and exchange rate of 10.5 percent, 4.7 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.

Despite the decline, the result still represents growth of 59 percent from US$108,600 in 2000, or 95 percent using constant exchange rates during the 16-year period. In addition, the report found Taiwan’s national wealth of US$3.2 trillion accounts for 1.3 percent of the worldwide total.    [FULL  STORY]

If CAL and EVA not interested, FAT will manage the transformation

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/11/25
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Far Eastern Air Transport Chairman Chang Kang-wei joined the debate about

the future of TransAsia Airways Friday by calling for its restructuring by the nation’s two main carriers.

On Tuesday, the board of TransAsia suddenly announced it was halting all flights immediately to prepare for the dissolution of the company. The decision angered passengers, travel agents, investors and staff and led to the government considering emergency solutions.

The main alternative to dissolution would be restructuring the company, but only the shareholders in TransAsia and the creditor banks would have to make such a decision, reports said.

Chang said he was willing to consider taking on the restructuring of TransAsia following calls by investors for him to do so.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/25
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) The average starting salary received by new graduates in their first job in 2016

fell about 4 percent from a year earlier, although the local economy showed signs of improving, according to a survey released by the online 1111 job bank on Friday.

The job bank said that average starting wages received by new graduates in their first full-time job was NT$26,250 (US$820), down NT$1,074, or almost 4 percent from the previous year.

1111 Job Bank Vice President Daniel Lee (李大華) said that despite signs of an economic recovery, the pace remained slow, which made first-time jobseekers cautious when looking for work.

Lee said that the lower starting salaries showed many new graduates preferred to secure a job with lower compensation in the first place and then set their sights on a better job with higher compensation in the future.    [FULL  STORY]