Business and Finance

TransAsia Airways to sell or lease A330 aircraft

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-20
By: Central News Agency

TransAsia Airways, a mid-sized international carrier in Taiwan, said Monday that it will sell or lease out four A330s as part of its efforts to streamline its operations.

TransAsia currently uses the four A330s on flights to Japan. After the removal of the planes from its fleet, the carrier will use A320s and A321s to serve its Japan routes, TransAsia said.

For employees such as pilots, who will be affected by the adjustment of the carrier’s fleet, TransAsia said it will give on-the-job training to allow the pilots to fly other aircraft models, while placing other affected employees in other positions.

The fleet change aims to take on rising competition in the air transportation market in Japan, where the number of flights from Taiwan has been increasing rapidly, TransAsia said. The carrier added that a higher Japanese yen has also had an adverse impact on flights to Japan from Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan export orders decline for 14th consecutive month

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/20
By: Lin Meng-ju and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 20 (CNA) Taiwan’s export orders for May fell for the 14th consecutive month amid 201606200031t0001lingering fragile global demand, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Monday.

The MOEA said that the pace of global economic growth remained wobbly, compromising consumers’ demand for high-tech devices which have served as the backbone of Taiwan’s outbound sales.

In May, Taiwan’s export orders fell 5.8 percent from a year earlier to US$33.73 billion, the MOEA data showed. In the first five months of this year, the country’s export orders dropped 8.4 percent from a year earlier to NT$165.37 billion, the data indicated.

Despite the year-on-year decline for the 14th consecutive month in May, the data showed that the magnitude of the decline for the month was smaller than an 11.1 percent drop seen in April. The May figure was up 1.7 percent from April.     [FULL  STORY]

Pace of export-order contraction slows

ENCOURAGING:Improved demand for smartphones and 4G handset chips in emerging markets was the main stimulus, with notebook demand from Europe also contributing

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

The nation’s export orders contracted 5.8 percent year-on-year to US$33.73 billion last month, less than the government’s estimated fall of 7 percent, due to a pickup in demand for smartphones and notebooks, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

The figure marks the 14th consecutive month of falls, but the pace eased from April’s 11.1 percent fall.

On a monthly basis, export orders expanded 1.7 percent from NT$33.16 billion (US$1.03 billion) in April, the data showed.

“The increasing demand for smartphones and 4G handset chips in emerging markets was the main stimulus,” ministry Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) said at a news conference.     [FULL  STORY]

China Airlines workers’ union asks for stability amid voting on strike plan

The China Post
Date: June 21, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI–The China Airlines (CAL) Employees Union called Monday for stability and said its

Ge Zou-liang, second from right, president of the China Airline Employees Union (CAEU), said at a press conference that the planned strike by flight attendants is not masterminded by the union but manipulated by outside forces. He questioned whether 2,000 flight attendants can determine a strike that may affect the work of over 10,000 members of the union. (CNA)

Ge Zou-liang, second from right, president of the China Airline Employees Union (CAEU), said at a press conference that the planned strike by flight attendants is not masterminded by the union but manipulated by outside forces. He questioned whether 2,000 flight attendants can determine a strike that may affect the work of over 10,000 members of the union. (CNA)

members want nothing more than their jobs, while members of a different flight attendant union prepare to vote on whether or not to launch strike action.

The CAL Employees Union made the appeal at a press conference in Taipei, in which it accused the proposed strike as being provoked by “exterior forces,” arguing that CAL employs over 10,000 workers, only around 2,000 of whom are flight attendants.

The protest by only some flight attendants should not be seen as representing the position of all CAL employees, union President Ko Tso-liang said.

The voting on a strike proposal “has battered the company’s reputation and its sustainable development,” “has damaged flight security and travelers’ rights and benefits,” and “has affected the livelihoods of the firm’s employees,” according to Ko.     [FULL  STORY]

Central bank to auction banknotes with special serial numbers

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-17
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Frances Huang, Central News Agency

Taiwan’s central bank said Friday it will auction off Taiwan dollar notes with special serial numbers starting on June 30 to boost government revenues.

People in Taiwan tend to favor banknotes with special serial numbers and are willing to pay large sums for them, as has been seen in seven similar auctions held by the central bank in the past four years.

Among the most coveted notes are those with serial numbers with one or more 8s, such as “000008” and “000088,” because the number eight sounds like the word for “making a fortune” in Mandarin.

The central bank said it has entrusted state-owned Bank of Taiwan, the country’s largest lender, to conduct the auction online, which will start at 10 a.m. on June 30 and run through 10 a.m. on July 5.     [FULL  STORY]

Asustek, Evergreen Marine among firms represented on Tsai’s trip (update)

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/19
By: Jeffery Wu, Sophia Yeh, Tai Ya-chen and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, June 19 (CNA) Representatives of Asustek Computer Inc. (華碩) and Evergreen Marine 201606190024t0001Corp. (長榮海運) will be among those accompanying President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on a visit to Panama and Paraguay later this month.

Executives from five other companies — Everest Textile (宏遠紡織), Fwu Sow Grain Products (福壽實業), General Energy Solutions (GES, 永旺能源), I-Mei Foods (義美食品), and Sanyang Motor (三陽機車) — will also be part of Tsai’s delegation, the United Evening News reported Sunday.

Tsai will embark on a nine-day trip to Panama and Paraguay — both diplomatic allies of the Republic of China (Taiwan) — on June 24. She will make transit stops in Miami on her way to Panama and in Los Angeles on her way back to Taiwan.

Tsai is scheduled to attend the inauguration ceremony of the expanded Panama Canal on June 26, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.     [FULL  STORY]

Banks’ exposure to China drops further

PAID OFF:A fall in lending to China is evidence that warnings over lending to China, even to Taiwanese businesspeople, has been heeded, the finance watchdog said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 20, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Lending extended by Taiwanese banks to China declined as of the end of March, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of decline at a time when the Taiwanese government is asking the banking sector to tighten their risk control on their exposure to the Chinese market, the central bank said.

Despite the decline, the bank said that China retained the title as the second-largest debtor to Taiwan on a direct risk basis, trailing the US on the back of a fall in Taiwanese banks’ exposure.

As of the end of March, outstanding international claims by Taiwanese banks to China on a direct risk basis stood at about US$43.2 billion, down US$6 billion, or 12.12 percent, from the end of December last year, the statistics showed.

Taiwan’s exposure to the US on a direct risk basis stood at US$64.59 billion as of the end of March, keeping Washington as the largest debtor to Taipei, the data showed.     [FULL  STORY]

Local May export orders could drop for 14th straight month

The China Post
Date: June 20, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI — 　Taiwan is likely to report a year-on-year decline in export orders for the 14th consecutive month in May, longer than the 12-month losing streak seen during the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Sunday.

Taiwan’s export orders fe11 for the 13th consecutive month in April, when they were down 11.1 percent from the same period a year earlier, and the streak is expected to continue in May, a ministry official said.

Export order data, to be released by the ministry on Monday, will likely show that orders received in May by Taiwanese companies fell 7-8 percent from the same month of 2015, the official said.

Positive year-on-year growth in export orders is unlikely until the second half of the year, he added.

The continued weakness in the data stems from sustained declines in orders for information and communication technology products, high-end smartphones and notebook and tablet computers due to the sluggish global economy and weak demand, the official said.     [FULL  STORY]

Formosa Petrochemical announces fuel price cut

The China Post
Date: June 19, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI — Formosa Petrochemical Corp., a privately owned gasoline supplier in Taiwan, said Saturday it will lower its gasoline and diesel prices next week to reflect falling international crude oil prices.

Formosa Petrochemical said it will cut gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.5 (US$0.015) per liter next week after having raised fuel prices NT$0.3 per liter this week. The adjustments will go into effect at 1 a.m. Monday.

The gasoline supplier said the lower crude prices reflected worries over an existing glut that could get worse if the United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union in a referendum on June 23.

A vote to leave the EU is expected to have a negative effect on the global economy, the oil supplier said.     [FULL  STORY]

Hotai Motor to buy Zurich’s general insurance assets in Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-18
By: Tien Yu-pin, Tsai Yi-chu and Frances Huang, Central News Agency

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Hotai Motor Co., the sales agent for Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. in Taiwan, has agreed to acquire Switzerland-based Zurich Insurance’s non-life insurance assets in Taiwan.

A board meeting held by Hotai Motor on Friday approved the deal in which the car vendor will spend NT$6.4 billion (US$198 million) to acquire a 99.73 percent stake in Zurich Taiwan’s non-life operations.

The deal will involve more than half of the NT$11.7 billion in cash Hotai Motor had as of the end of March, but because the company is financially sound and has stable income, the acquisition should not hurt the company’s finances, said Hotai Motor spokesman Hsieh Fu-lai.     [FULL  STORY]