Business and Finance

Tsai urges caution on TSMC China plan

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate 6720562Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday urged the government to be cautious on plans by the world’s largest contract chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to build a wafer plant in China.

According to reports, the 12-inch wafer factory planned for Nanjing in Jiangsu Province would not transfer significant technology from Taiwan.

However, Tsai cautioned the Ministry of Economic Affairs to exert caution when reviewing the application process. She called for transparency but also demanded attention for eventual Chinese investment in the semiconductor design sector.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to continue vying for EU support for investment agreement

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/08
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) Taiwan will continue to promote substantial industrial

Deputy Economics Minister Cho Shih-chao (卓

Deputy Economics Minister Cho Shih-chao (卓

cooperation with the European Union and vie for the support of EU member states for a bilateral investment agreement, Deputy Economics Minister Cho Shih-chao (卓士昭) Tuesday.

In its latest trade and investment policy paper, the European Commission said it will explore the possibility of opening negotiations on an investment agreement with Taiwan, Cho noted.

He said Taiwan welcomes the development, which he said is a positive response to calls by the government and the private sector of Taiwan to deepen economic, trade and investment relations with the EU.     [FULL  STORY]

Solar firms might avoid EU fines: MOEA

ACCOMPLICES:Local firms are suspected of colluding with Chinese companies to circumvent trade barriers, but only a few of them were implicated, the ministry said

Taipei Times
Date:  Dec 07, 2015
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Most Taiwanese solar companies under investigation by the EU are likely to be exempted from anti-circumvention measures, as they do not help Chinese firms re-export cheap solar products to avoid EU import quotas, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday.

Chinese solar panel and cell manufacturers are suspected of exporting near-finished solar products to third nations, including Taiwan and Malaysia, where local firms assemble the final products before exporting them to Europe.

A total of 80 companies from Taiwan and Malaysia are under an anti-circumvention probe and could face heavy fines, according to market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技).     [FULL  STORY]

Overseas visitor arrivals to set new milestone by end of year

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/06
By: Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) The number of overseas visitors to Taiwan is expected to breach the 10 million mark

CNA file photo

CNA file photo

this year for the first time in history, though their overall spending may not show much growth from last year, according to the country’s Tourism Bureau.

The bureau expected that the 10 millionth overseas visitor in 2015 will arrive sometime on Dec. 15 or 16, reaching a milestone that Taiwan just missed last year when it received a record 9.91 million visitors from abroad.

According to the latest statistics, 8.47 million overseas visitors had arrived in Taiwan in the first 10 months of the year, up 4.67 percent from the same period last year.

These tourists will end up injecting NT$445 billion (US$13.62 billion) into Taiwan’s tourism-related businesses this year, the bureau estimated, with airlines, hotels, travel agencies, tour buses and specialty stores the biggest beneficiaries.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan plans six projects to convert wastewater for industrial use

The Nation
Date: December 6, 2015

In the first stage of a water-conservation project, Taiwan will build six plants that can turn wastewater into usable water for industrial parks by 2020, the Economics Ministry’s Water Resources Agency said on Monday.

There are plans to build three new water-recycling plants, as well as upgrading of three existing sewage plants to recycled-water suppliers for industrial parks.

Once completed, the six plants will be able to supply a combined 280,000 tonnes of reclaimed water to local industry daily, according to government estimates.

A sum of 15.163 billion New Taiwan dollars (Bt16.6 billion) has been earmarked for the six projects, which make up the first wave of a long-term project to build plants that can provide reclaimed water to industrial parks.

The project is supported by the Water Resources Agency, the Construction and Planning Agency of the Ministry of the Interior and local governments.

The construction scheme aims to stabilise Taiwan’s water supply for industrial parks and to reduce the industrial use of water treated for livelihood purposes.

Taiwan has long faced the problem of water shortage due to low water prices, leaking pipelines, and drought.     [FULL  STORY]

Cathay Life ratings upgraded by Moody’s

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-05
By: Central News Agency

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded its ratings for Cathay Life Insurance Co., one of Taiwan’s largest life insurers, on the back of the company’s improving profitability, solid capitalization and strong business profile.

Moody’s has upgraded its insurance financial strength rating (IFSR) for Cathay Life, the insurance flagship of Cathay Financial Holding Co., to Baa1 from Baa2, and also hiked Cathay Financial’s issuer rating to Baa2 from Baa3.

The ratings agency said that the outlook of both Cathay Life and Cathay Financial is stable.

The upgrade in Cathay Financial reflected the upgrade of Cathay Life’s IFSR as the life insurer is the financial holding’s largest subsidiary in terms of assets, shareholder’s equity and net income, Moody’s said.     [FULL  STORY]

Catcher November sales hit new high

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/05
By: Jeffery Wu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Dec. 5 (CNA) Catcher Technology Co. (可成), one of Taiwan’s leading suppliers of

Hung Shui-shu (洪水樹), chairman of Catcher Technology Co. Ltd.

Hung Shui-shu (洪水樹), chairman of Catcher Technology Co. Ltd.

metal casings for electronic devices, posted a record high for sales for the fourth consecutive month in November, it announced Saturday.

Analysts attributed the sustained success to big orders from Apple Inc. for casings for its 4.7-inch iPhone 6s and 5.5-inch iPhone 6s Plus, which were launched in September.

In addition to the orders from Apple, Catcher also benefited from the introduction of new notebook computer models by global PC brands in the fourth quarter to capitalize on the Christmas shopping season, analysts said.

Catcher reported NT$8.34 billion (US$254 million) in consolidated sales in November, up 1.4 percent from a month earlier and also up 50.3 percent from a year earlier.     [FULL  STORY]

Brother of Acer ex-chairman indicted

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-04
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The brother of former Acer Inc. Chairman J.T. Wang has been indicted in a bizarre case of insider trading involving their mother, reports said Friday.

Wang headed the Taiwanese company, which once reached the top-three of the world’s most popular personal computer brands, from 2005 until 2013, when it brought back its founder, Stan Shih, amid record losses.

According to charges filed by the Taichung District Prosecutors Office, on the eve of his departure from the company leadership, Wang phoned his mother to tell her “I can’t continue anymore,” the Chinese-language Liberty Times reported.     [FULL  STORY]

MOUs signed for Philippines trade pact

IMPROVING TIES:The Ministry of Economic Affairs has arranged three more business trips involving business owners, e-commerce firms and renewable energy developers

Taipei Times
Date:  Dec 05, 2015
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan yesterday signed three memorandums of understanding (MOU) with the Philippines as part of ongoing efforts to push for an economic cooperation agreement between the two nations, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.

The announcement came after trade representatives from Taiwan and the Philippines wrapped up a two-day annual ministerial meeting in Manila. The meeting was headed by Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) and Philippine Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras.

The two sides took a step toward signing the economic cooperation agreement by forming a joint task force to promote mutual economic cooperation, the ministry said in a statement.

Under the MOU, the two nations are to pursue cooperation between Taiwan’s export processing zones and the special economic zones in the Philippines’ Subic Bay and Clark, as well as enhancing collaborations in e-commerce, according to the statement.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves fall slightly in November

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/04
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves decreased by 201512040034t0001US$2.16 billion to US$424.61 billion as of the end of November, the first monthly drop since April, Taiwan’s central bank said Friday.

Meanwhile, there was a net outflow of US$6.3 billion in foreign funds during the month, the central bank added.

The bank attributed the slight decline in reserves mainly to the depreciation of the euro and other reserve currencies against the U.S. dollar, which caused dollar-denominated foreign exchange reserves to decrease.    [FULL  STORY]