Business and Finance

Luxury car brands fail to meet CO2 emission target

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/03
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Kay Liu

Taipei, May 3 (CNA) Several luxury car brands, including Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin,

(From the EPA webaite)

(From the EPA webaite)

are among the 17 car vendors that failed to meet the government’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emission target last year, according to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).

Among the 36 car vendors in Taiwan that reported the CO2 emissions of the cars they sold in 2015, 19 achieved the official target, which is to reach 65 percent of the CO2 emission standard they are required to meet in 2017, the EPA said.

The 65 percent target was set by the EPA for 2015, the first year of a government program, under which car vendors should ensure that all models they sell will meet CO2 emission standards by 2017, when fines for violators will be introduced under the Air Pollution Control Act.

The emission standard for cars is calculated based on their weight. Each vendor’s target is set according to the number of cars they sell and the CO2 emission levels of their various models.    p[FULL  STORY]

Asus, Acer aver ongoing ties with Intel

INTEL DITCHES MOBILE CHIPS:Asustek said it had a long-term relationship with Intel, and it is looking forward to working with the chipmaker in the IoT field, or on smart cars

Taipei Times
Date: May 04, 2016
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday said their relationships with Intel

The Intel logo is pictured at their Jerusalem offices on April 20. Photo: Reuters

The Intel logo is pictured at their Jerusalem offices on April 20. Photo: Reuters

Corp would remain unaffected amid speculation about the computer chip giant’s planned exit from the mobile chip market.

Intel is canceling its Atom chips — provisionally titled Broxton and SoFIA — for smartphones and tablets, so that the company can focus on cloud and smart connected computing devices, it said.

“We are committed to long-term leadership and improved profitability of our mobile business and the decision to cancel Broxton for phones and tablets and SoFIA 3Gx/LTE/LTE2 enables us to move resources to products that deliver higher returns and advance our strategy,” Intel said in a statement, quoted by the AnandTech Web site on Friday last week.

Part of Asustek’s ZenFone smartphone series uses Intel mobile chips and Acer uses Intel mobile chips for its tablets, but both Asustek and Acer declined to comment on Intel’s decision to scale back its mobile system-on-chip (SoC) business.     [FULL  STORY]

Net foreign fund inflow hits US$1.75 billion in April

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-02
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, May 2 (CNA) Foreign institutional investors in Taiwan recorded a net fund inflow for the third consecutive month in April, registering US$1.75 billion, according to statistics released Thursday by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).

In March, foreign institutional investors registered a net fund inflow of US$6.09 billion, while in February the figure was US$1.48 billion, according to FSC data.

In a hearing of the Legislature’s Finance Committee, FSC Chairwoman Wang Li-ling said that since the government opened up the local equity market to foreign institutional investment in 1990, the total net fund inflow has reached US$202.1 billion.

She forecast that the equity market will stabilize before the start of the third quarter, given the large net foreign fund inflow.     [FULL  STORY]

Housing transactions in major cities up in April

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/02
By: Wei Shu and Frances Huang

Taipei, May 2 (CNA) Residential and commercial property transactions in Taiwan’s six major 201605020021t0001metropolitan areas rose more than 7 percent in April from a month earlier after the country’s central bank eased credit controls on property loans.

A total of 14,491 homes, shops and offices were sold in the six cities in April, 7.5 percent more than in March, according to statistics released Monday by the cities.

Analysts said the figures point to the beginning of a recovery in the sluggish property markets in Taiwan’s six major cities — Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.

Among the six cities, Taoyuan in northern Taiwan had the highest month-on-month growth of 23.5 percent, with sales of 3,617 units, the statistics showed.     [FULL  STORY]

Manufacturing recovery elusive: survey

STOCK CONTROL:Companies have lowered inventories in order to cope with slowed business, which has eased the marginal rate of depletion to its slowest pace this year

Taipei Times
Date: May 03, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The Nikkei Taiwan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 49.7 last month, from 51.1 in March, signifying a slight deterioration in the sector’s operating conditions, as weak client demand weighed on new orders and output.

The privately conducted PMI print suggested recovery remains elusive amid the slow season for technology products.

“After a bumpy first quarter, Taiwan’s manufacturing industry suffered another setback as seen in the PMI data,” said Annabel Fiddes, economist at Markit, which complied the survey.

Taiwanese manufacturers reported renewed declines in output and new orders last month due to tepid demand from both customers in Taiwan and overseas, the monthly report said.     [FULL  STORY]

Central bank denies currency intervention

NOT ADDING UP:The central bank said that the figures stated in a US Treasury report regarding Taiwanese exports did not match those released by the Ministry of Finance

Taipei Times
Date: May 02, 2016
By: Ted Chen / Staff reporter

The central bank yesterday said that Taiwan did not carry out one-sided currency intervention as the US has claimed.

The nation’s monetary policymaker released a statement after the US Department of the Treasury submitted a report on foreign exchange policies of major trading partners to the US Congress on Friday, which put Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan and Germany on a watch list for an “enhanced analysis” of the nations’ practices.

The US Treasury has listed three criteria to monitor unfair trade advantages against the US, of which Taiwan met two, according to the report.

The report said that Taiwan “engaged in persistent net foreign currency purchases through most of last year.”

“In light of Taiwan’s large current account surplus, such interventions are concerning,” the report said.     [FULL  STORY]

Workers in service sector make up bulk of Taiwan’s labor market

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/01
By: Tsai Yi-chu and Elaine Hou

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) Employees in the service sector account for nearly 60 percent of the labor 201605010003t0001market in Taiwan, with their annual salaries averaging NT$477,000 (US$14,797), a recent survey has found.

The sector makes up 62.8 percent of Taiwan’s gross domestic production in 2015, according to statistics compiled by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS).

With around 6.6 million employees, the service industry accounts for 59 percent of total work force in Taiwan, it added.

Employees in the sector are found to earn annual salaries of NT$477,000 on average, a recent survey conducted by online 1111 Job Bank showed.     [FULL  STORY]

Vietnamese protest Taiwanese firm

TOUCHING A NERVE:A Formosa official’s comment that Vietnamese had to choose between fishing and shrimping, and building a modern steel industry, sparked outrage

Taipei Times
Date: May 02, 2016
By: Reuters, HANOI

Hundreds of people yesterday demonstrated in Vietnam against a Taiwanese firm they accuse

A demonstrator yesterday holds a model fish in a protest in Hanoi over mass fish deaths along Vietnam’s central coast. Photo: Reuters

A demonstrator yesterday holds a model fish in a protest in Hanoi over mass fish deaths along Vietnam’s central coast. Photo: Reuters

of causing mass fish deaths along the nation’s central coast, with some also blaming the government for a sluggish response to a major environmental disaster.

Though an official investigation has found no links between the fish deaths and a US$10.6 billion coastal steel plant run by a unit of Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics (台塑), public anger against the company has not abated.

Hundreds gathered in Hanoi, holding banners that read: “Formosa destroying the environment is a crime” and “Who poisoned the central region’s waters?”     [FULL  STORY]

Short sales could cost investors more: TWSE

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/30
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 30 (CNA) When investors borrow securities for a short sale purpose, they can spend more than they had previously anticipated, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).

Since 2003, Taiwan has been allowing securities borrowing and lending (SBL) in a bid to give investors more flexibility to map out their investment strategies.

Through SBL, investors are able to short stocks, hedge risks or return stocks they had previously borrowed. The TWSE and brokerages serve as the principal securities lenders, and investors are able to borrow securities through competitive bids or negotiations under the current SBL system.

The TWSE, which operates the local main board, said that investors have to pay fees for competitive bids or negotiations and the fees will not be included into the deposits they have to place with the lenders. The deposits could hit as much as 90 percent of the borrowed stock’s value.     [FULL  STORY]

Domestic fuel prices forecast to rise next week

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-29
By: By Lin Meng-ju and Frances Huang, Central News Agency

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Domestic gasoline and diesel prices are expected to move higher next week as international crude oil prices have been rebounding amid a weaker U.S. dollar, market sources said Friday.

The recent rise in international crude oil prices points to an increase in fuel prices next week by state-run oil refiner CPC Corp. Taiwan based on its fuel price calculation formula, the sources said.

They forecast that the price of the benchmark 95 octane unleaded could breach NT$24 (US$0.74) per liter.

CPC is expected to raise domestic gasoline prices by NT$0.4-NT$0.5 per liter and diesel prices by NT$0.5-NT$0.6 per liter next week, marking the third consecutive weekly increase in fuel prices, the sources said.     [FULL  STORY]