Business and Finance

Domestic fuel prices to rise by NT$0.9 per liter Monday

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/21
By: Milly Lin and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Feb. 21 (CNA) The state-owned CPC Corp., Taiwan (中油) announced 201602210013t0001Sunday that it will increase gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.9 (US$0.03) per liter, effective Monday, at a time of rising crude oil prices.

After the price adjustments, CPC’s price of 92 octane, 95 octane and 98 octane unleaded gasoline will go up to NT$19.9, NT$21.4 and NT$23.4 per liter, respectively, and the price of super diesel will be set at NT$17.1 per liter.

The price hike was within market expectations after international crude oil prices made a comeback in the wake of a deal among oil producing countries to cap production.     [FULL  STORY]

Banking sector to face new challenges

PREPARED:Despite the obstacles that await Taiwanese lenders, they are considered to have adequate capitalization and liquidity, a credit analyst for Taiwan Ratings said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 22, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

In an environment where interest rates have been trending lower, Taiwan’s banking sector is expected to face more challenges and see its profitability weaken this year, according to Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), a local partner of US-based Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLP.

To boost the economy, the central bank cut key interest rates twice late last year, which is expected to exacerbate pressure on the banking sector’s interest spreads this year and hurt its bottom line, the ratings agency said.

Last year, Taiwan’s economy grew only 0.75 percent from a year earlier, compared with a year-on-year increase of 3.92 percent in 2014, after contracting 0.80 percent and 0.52 percent in the third and fourth quarters respectively.     [FULL  STORY]

Housing transaction value plunges over 20% in 2015

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-20
By: Central News Agency

Housing transaction value in Taiwan fell sharply in 2015, down more than 20 percent from a year earlier, at a time when the local economy showed signs of slowing down, according to market statistics.

In 2015, the transaction value of homes, shops and offices in the local market totaled NT$2.92 trillion (US$86.9 billion), down almost NT$1 trillion or 24 percent from a year earlier, the statistics showed.

In terms of transaction volume, the data indicated that residential and commercial property for 2015 fell 8 percent from a year earlier to 294,000 units, which was also evidence of weakness in the local property market.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s export orders could decline for 10th consecutive month

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/20
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Frances Huang

Taipei, Feb. 20 (CNA) Taiwan is likely to report a year-on-year decline in 201602200019t0001January export orders for the 10th consecutive month as the bellwether electronics sector, which served as the backbone of the country’s outbound sales, was faced with slow season effects, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Saturday.

Moreover, Taiwanese exporters in the Apple Inc. supply chain have felt the pinch of the impact resulting from weakening sales of the latest iPhones — the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus — , which were unveiled in September of 2015, the MOEA said.

Following a more than 12 percent year-on-year decline in export orders recorded in December, Taiwan is expected to report another fall for January, marking a 10-month losing streak.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s IC sector to outperform global growth in 2016: IEK

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-19
By: Central News Agency

Taiwan’s integrated circuit industry is expected to outperform global growth in output value in 2016 because of the country’s strong wafer foundry and IC design segments, a Taiwanese research institute said Friday.

The output of Taiwan’s IC industry is expected to grow 2.4 percent in 2016 from a year earlier to NT$2.31 trillion (US$68.75 billion), according to the Industrial Technology Research Institute’s Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK).

That will exceed the 1.7 percent year-on-year average growth forecast for the global semiconductor sector, the IEK said.     [FULL  STORY]

Sharp board to decide on bailout deal with Hon Hai Feb. 24: report

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/19
By: Jalen Chung, Yang Ming-chu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Feb. 19 (CNA) The board of directors of financially-troubled Sharp 201602190024t0001Corp. of Japan is expected to decide on a bailout deal with Taiwan- based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (鴻海) on Feb. 24 at the earliest, Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review reported Friday.

The report said that Sharp will hold a board meeting on Feb. 20 to deliberate the deal with Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn outside Taiwan. It said the meeting will likely yield a decision on whether to accept the bailout plan four days later.

On Feb. 5, Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou said that he expects his company would sign an agreement with Sharp on Feb. 29. Gou made the remarks when he visited Sharp’s headquarters.     [FULL  STORY]

Economists expect central bank to cut policy rate

PRECURSOR:Expectations of further easing rose this week after the central bank relaxed funding conditions, which it also did prior to a rate reduction in September

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 20, 2016
By: Bloomberg
The central bank is to cut its policy rate to a record low this year as prospects of an economic recovery appear bleak amid a slowdown in trade, according to ING Groep NV and Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控).

ING predicts the monetary authority will double the size of reductions in the benchmark discount rate to 25 basis points, taking the rate to less than the unprecedented 1.25 percent in 2009 during the global financial crisis.

Fubon senior economist Rick Lo (羅瑋) estimated the rate would drop to 1.125 percent by year’s end after the nation lowered its economic growth forecast for the year this week.     [FULL  STORY]

Japanese real estate company to build more malls in Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-18
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, Feb. 18 (CNA) Mitsui Fudosan, a major real estate developer in Japan, plans to build several malls in Taiwan, following the recent successful launch of its first shopping complex here, the head of the company’s Taipei branch said Thursday.

Eying Taiwan’s strong consumer purchasing power, Mitsui Fudosan will build at least three malls in Taipei and another three or four elsewhere in the country, said Hiroyuki Shinozuka, managing director of the company’s Taipei operations. The announcement of the plan followed the successful opening on Jan. 26 of the Mitsui Outlet Park in Linkou, New Taipei.

It is the largest outlet mall in northern Taiwan, comprising about 220 outlets for Japanese and Taiwanese brands, restaurants, food courts, a cinema complex, and an upscale supermarket.     [FULL  STORY]

Evergreen group ‘regrets’ Chang Kuo-wei’s announcement of taking helm

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/18
By: Wei Shu and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Feb. 18 (CNA) EVA Airways Chairman Chang Kuo-wei’s (張國煒)

Chang Kuo-wei (CNA file photo)

Chang Kuo-wei (CNA file photo)

announcement that he has been promoted to the Evergreen Group’s top post drew a response of “regret” from the group left behind by his father Chang Yung-fa (張榮發), who passed away Jan. 20.

In a statement, the business group said while the group’s founder and chairman in his will signed in December, 2014 stated that he did want his youngest son to take over as group chairman, the succession process was still being discussed among other heirs.

These heirs include the four adult children of Chang Yung-fa’s first wife Lin Chin-chih. Chang Kuo-wei is the only child of the group founder’s second wife, Lee Yu-mei.     [FULL  STORY]

TSMC shares rally on earnings upgrade

KNOCK-ON EFFECTS:Damage caused to wafers at the firm’s Tainan Gigafab facilities during the Feb. 6 earthquake is to result in delayed shipments of about 120,00 wafers

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 19, 2016
By: Ted Chen / Staff reporter, with CNA

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday surged to their highest in more than nine months after the company raised its earnings guidance for the current quarter on Wednesday evening.

TSMC shares gained 2.03 percent to close at NT$151 in Taipei trading, the highest since April 28 last year, with 61.71 million shares changing hands.

The Hsinchu-based chipmaker raised its sales guidance for this quarter to a range between NT$201 billion (US$5.99 billion) and NT$203 billion from a previous estimate of between NT$198 billion and NT$201 billion, according to a company filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.     [FULL  STORY]