Business and Finance

Global smartphone sales may grow only 7% in 2016: Gartner

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-02
By: Central News Agency

Worldwide smartphone sales for 2016 are expected to grow only 7 percent in 2016, marking the first year for the handheld devices to post a single-digit increase in a saturated market, according to market information advisory firm Gartner.

Citing a research report, Gartner said that smartphone sales in the global market are estimated to reach 1.5 billion units, up 7 percent from a year earlier. Total mobile phone sales, meanwhile, are expected to hit 1.94 billion units this year, up slightly from the 1.92 billion units seen last year.

“The double-digit growth era for the global smartphone market has come to an end,” Gartner’s research director Ranjit Atwal said in a statement. “Historically, worsening economic conditions had a negligible impact on smartphone sales and spending, but this is no longer the case.”     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s green soybean exports hit record high

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/03
By: Yang Su-min and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, April 3 (CNA) Taiwan’s exports of green soybeans, called edamame in Japan and

(CNA file photo)

(CNA file photo)

mao dou in China, hit a record high of US$76 million in 2015, with 87.5 percent of the exports going to Japan, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Sunday.

The strong export performance was attributed to the constant research and development of new products by the COA’s Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, according to the COA.

Despite facing 6 percent customs duties and fierce price competition in Japan, Taiwan’s green soybean exports to that country were able to succeed in the market due to their high quality, according to the station.

Last year, Taiwan exported 36,117 metric tons worth US$76.61 million last year, which represents a 6.5 percent growth from 2014 and a record high in 22 years.     [FULL  STORY]

Home transactions plunge 32.6 percent

DOLDRUMS:The market was mired in ‘pessimistic sentiment last quarter,’ but sales could pick up this quarter as rates drop and credit controls are lifted, an analyst said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 04, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

Existing home transactions in the nation’s major cities contracted 32.6 percent in the first quarter year-on-year as expectations of price declines, holiday disruptions and soil liquefaction concerns sank the market to an 11-year low, government data showed.

There were 32,148 housing deals during the January-to-March period in the six special municipalities, local government data showed.

“The market remained enveloped in pessimistic sentiment last quarter, but the situation might improve this quarter with lower interest rates and lifting of credit controls,” Umei Realty Co (優美地產) analyst Yeh Li-ming (葉立敏) said in a report.     [FULL  STORY]

ITRI to recruit 500 R&D talents to speed up innovation

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-02
By: Central News Agency

Industrial Technology Research Institute (IRTI, 工研院), a government-sponsored research group, said Saturday that it is planning to recruit 500 research and development talents this year to speed up the pace of innovation.

ITRI said that the recruitment campaign will be held at home and overseas at a time when the research entity aims to build more than 100 new technology development platforms which could help Taiwan’s enterprises to upgrade.

According to the ITRI, the 500 R&D newcomers will be assigned to a wide range of industries, including optoelectronics, software design, smart devices, robot development, automotive systems, information/communications, integrated circuit design, biotechnology and energy.

ITRI said that the newcomers will work in line with the government’s industrial initiatives focusing on green energy, medical care and smart life.     [FULL  STORY]

Manufacturing sector posts 1st sales drop in 3 years

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/02
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 2 (CNA) The local manufacturing sector suffered its first year-on-year sales 201604020020t0001drop in three years in 2015 as many manufacturers’ pricing power was hurt by falling prices of international crude oil and steel products, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Citing statistics, the MOEA said that revenue generated by Taiwan’s manufacturing sector for 2015 fell 3.3 percent from a year earlier to NT$26.42 trillion (US$815 billion).

The oil/coal and chemical sectors witnessed sales for 2015 falling 29.7 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively, from a year earlier, to NT$1.51 trillion and NT$1.89 trillion, in the wake of the weakness of the global oil market, the ministry said.

A supply glut in the global steel market, which pushed down steel product prices, sent the local base metal sector into a tailspin, with the segment posing a 15.6 percent year-on-year decline in sales to NT$1.17 trillion in 2015, the ministry said.     [FULL  STORY]

Hon Hai’s Terry Gou signs deal with Sharp

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-02
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. Chairman Terry Gou signed 6745505the 388.8 billion yen (NT$111.8 billion, US$3.4 billion) investment deal with Sharp Corporation in Osaka Saturday.

The official signing gives the Taiwanese company 66 percent of Sharp, and crowns a saga lasting years, during which offers for the ailing Japanese brand name came and went until a final agreement was reached last Wednesday. The agreement is expected to cement the role of Hon Hai, which is also known by the name Foxconn, as one of the world’s biggest manufacturer of computers and cell phones, in particular for Apple Inc. Control over Sharp will allow the Taiwanese company to improve its development of high-definition LCD panels for mobile devices, reports said.

Immediately after the signing, Gou, Sharp Chairman Kozo Takahashi, and Hon Hai Vice Chairman Tai Jeng-wu stood for minutes hand in hand posing for the media in front of a screen with the company names and the flags of Taiwan and Japan.     [FULL  STORY]

Hon Hai to invest 200 billion yen in OLED technology

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-01
By: Central News Agency

The Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團), which has agreed to acquire a stake in financially ailing Sharp Corp. of Japan, is planning to invest 200 billion Japanese yen (US$1.8 billion) in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology over the next three years.
The OLED plan was revealed in a document obtained from Sharp related to Hon Hai’s acquisition of a 66 percent stake in the money-losing Japanese company.

That investment may go toward OLED production lines that the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Friday are being set up by Hon Hai and Sharp in a flat panel plant, Sakai Display Products (SDP), that is jointly owned by Sharp and Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘).

The Sharp document showed Hon Hai is also expected to spend an additional 60 billion yen to develop new generation medium-sized liquid crystal displays, 40 billion yen on the Internet of Things, and 40 billion yen to develop multi-functional office equipment.     [FULL  STORY]

Mandarin Airlines to launch Taichung-Wuxi route

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/01
By: Wang Shu-fen and Elaine Hou

Taipei, April 1 (CNA) Taiwan-based Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) said Friday that it will

CNA file photo

CNA file photo

launch flights between Taichung in central Taiwan and Wuxi City in China’s Jiangsu province later this month.

The new route will be launched on April 29, the airline said, adding that it will provide two flights between Taichung and Wuxi every week.

The promotional price for the new route will be as low as NT$4,999 (US$155), which will be available by the end of May, according to the air carrier.

Mandarin Airlines is a subsidiary of China Airlines (CAL), Taiwan’s largest air carrier, which operates four weekly flights between Taipei and Wuxi.

The launch of the new route will make travel easier for Taiwanese businesspeople who are from central Taiwan and have investments in Jiangsu’s Suzhou, Wuxi and Kunshan cities, the airline said.     [FULL  STORY]

PMI moves back into positive territory

LOW BAR:The CIER said the rebound was largely due to a low base of comparison in February, although local tech firms were boosted by the release of Apple’s iPhone SE

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 02, 2016
By: Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) registered 54.9 last month, bounding back to positive territory, as companies emerged from holiday disruptions and the launch of new handsets by Apple Inc also lent support, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.

The rebound has more to do with a low base of comparison in February than signs of a recovery because the reading after seasonal adjustments continued to contract, although at a milder pace, the Taipei-based institute said.

“A recovery remains elusive, even though the operating conditions showed improvement last month and beyond,” CIER president Wu Chung-shu (吳中書) told a news conference.

The PMI is an important economic bellwether aimed at gauging the health of the manufacturing industry’s operating conditions, with scores above 50 indicating improvement and values below the threshold reflecting deterioration.     [FULL  STORY]

Domestic fuel prices expected to fall next week

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/01
By: Lin Meng-ju and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 1 (CNA) Domestic gasoline and diesel prices are likely to fall next week as 201604010025t0001international crude oil prices moved lower amid fears that oil producing countries will not reach a deal to cap production, sources said Friday.

Based on fluctuations in crude prices this week, the sources said, state-run oil refiner CPC Corp. Taiwan could raise its gasoline prices by NT$0.3 (US$0.009) per liter and diesel prices by NT$0.4 per liter next week after a hike of NT$0.2 per liter for both gasoline and diesel prices this week.

The CPC calculates its weekly fuel prices based on a weighted oil price formula that comprises 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude.

While members and non-members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to meet in Qatar on April 17 to discuss the possibility of freezing output, there have been rumblings that it will be hard for the participants to strike a deal, the sources said.

The uncertainty renewed fears of a supply glut in the global oil market as demand has shown no sign of picking up amid persistent economic sluggishness across the world, dealers said.     [FULL  STORY]