Business and Finance

Exports indicate demand improvement

SLOW TURNAROUND:Shipments to all but one of trading partner saw double-digit declines, but a slowdown in the decline last month signaled potential recovery

Taipei Times
Date:  Nov 10, 2015
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Shipping container cranes stand unused at a port in Taiwan yesterday.  Photo: CNA

The nation’s exports declined 11 percent year-on-year last month, down by double digits for five months running, but easing from a 14.6 percent fall in September, indicating a slow improvement in external demand, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.

The results came in line with a market consensus that the global slowdown will continue to weigh on electronics shipments while price distortions caused by cheaper oil prices might not taper off until next year.

Exports, which account for 70 percent of GDP, dropped for the ninth consecutive month this year to NT$785.99 billion (U$23.94 billion) last month, the ministry’s report showed.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan shares open higher

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/09

Taipei, Nov. 9 (CNA) The Taiwan Stock Exchange’s main index opened 9.1 points higher at 8,702.67 Monday on turnover of NT$1.54 billion (US$47.27 million).

Domestic fuel prices to rise next week

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-08
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) Gasoline and diesel prices in Taiwan will move higher next week because of a rebound in international crude oil prices this week, said state-owned oil supplier CPC Corp.

Taiwan Sunday. CPC said it will raise gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.2 (US$0.006) per liter on Monday after leaving fuel prices unchanged this week. CPC calculates its weekly fuel prices based on a weighted oil price formula that comprises 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude.

Analysts said the hike largely reflected a comeback in international crude prices amid concerns over a fall in supply after workers at Petrobras, the largest oil supplier in Brazil, launched a strike to protest the company’s layoff plan.

Further expectations of a drop in supply were raised when the export terminal in the eastern port of Zueitina in Libya was closed, disrupting oil exports. The increase in international crude oil prices was offset to some extent later in the week by a stronger U.S. dollar amid rising expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will kick off an interest rate hike cycle, analysts said.     [FULL  STORY]

Car vendors launch promotion campaigns to reach annual sales goal

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/08
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) Car vendors in Taiwan said Sunday that they have kicked off

(CNA file photo)

(CNA file photo)

promotional campaigns to take advantage of the traditionally strong fourth quarter and reach the annual sales target for Taiwan’s market as a whole of 420,000 vehicles.

The local car market has showed signs of recovering in October because of peak season effects, and car vendors want to use attractive promotions to push sales higher in the last two months of the year.

In October, car sales in Taiwan rose 28 percent from a slump in September to 32,000 units. In the first half of September, buying interest was dampened by the ghost month on the lunar calendar, which fell on Aug. 14-Sept. 12.

Consumers in Taiwan tend not to purchase big-ticket items, such as cars and homes, during ghost month to avoid bad luck.     [FULL  STORY]

Ma-Xi meeting unlikely to sway TAIEX

NO ‘EXCITING’ TOPICS:Investors are expected to refocus on the nation’s economic fundamentals this week after the leaders’ meeting failed to arouse market excitement

Taipei Times
Date: , Nov 09, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

The historic meeting on Saturday between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese

President Ma Ying-jeou, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping enter the room at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore where they held their summit on Saturday. Photo: AP

President Ma Ying-jeou, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping enter the room at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore where they held their summit on Saturday. Photo: AP

President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore is expected to have a limited impact on the TAIEX this week due to a lack of economic and trade accomplishments, analysts said.

After seeing signs of a sell-off in local shares late last week, the market is expected to focus on economic news and the outlook for the technology sector in the run-up to the year-end holiday season, they said.

“The Ma-Xi meeting is more symbolic than substantial,” said Roy Chun Lee (李淳), deputy director of the Chung Hua Institution for Economic Research’s (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) Taiwan WTO Center.

Lee said the leaders’ meeting did not create any “exciting topics” for the market.     [FULL  STORY]

Majority of employees in Taiwan fear taking time off: survey

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-07
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) A majority of employees in Taiwan are afraid to take time off from work because of fears it would make their bosses unhappy, according to a survey. Citing the results of the survey released Friday, online job bank yes123 said 63.6 percent of respondents admitted that they feared taking days off too often because they were afraid their absences would lead their supervisors to downgrade their performance evaluations.
Forty percent of respondents said they faced difficulties getting approval from their bosses to take leave, and a large majority still had leave available, the survey found. A total of 83.5 percent of respondents said they have not taken any or only some of their annual leave for this year, even though 2015 has nearly come to an end, the survey found.

Some 60 percent of respondents who still have annual leave available said they were too busy and did not have time to take it, and 34.2 percent worried that taking vacation would interrupt their work and put them behind schedule on the job. About a quarter of respondents (24.4 percent) said they feared taking lengthy annual leaves would make their employers unhappy, while 20.2 percent feared they would get a poor year-end evaluation after taking a long vacation, the survey found.     [FULL  STORY]

Efforts for trade-in-goods deal with China will go on: BOFT

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/07
By: Flor Wang

Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) Responding to a protest staged by some civic groups against a 201511070032t0001merchandise trade pact being negotiated with China, a Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) official said Saturday that the government will continue its efforts to push forward the deal, based on “national consensus.”

“A Taiwan-China trade-in-goods agreement will help stimulate Taiwan’s economic development and upgrade its industrial structure,” BOFT Deputy Director David Hsu (徐大衛) said after a protest by 20 groups demanding that the government halt negotiations with China earlier that same day.

Advising the government stance that the planned cross-strait trade-in-merchandise pact will benefit both Taiwan’s large and small enterprises, Hsu said the government will make all-out efforts while negotiating with China to safeguard local companies’ interests and mitigate its impact on them.     [FULL  STORY]

Square’s cut signals technology firms struggle

‘UNICORNS’ BUCK:Private companies valued at over US$1 billion are expected to slash their values next year as market trends move away from sky-high valuations

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 08, 2015
By: Reuters, SAN FRANCISCO

Square Inc’s initial public offering, priced at a 30 percent discount from the payments and lending company’s private valuation, is one of the loudest signals yet that technology firms are struggling to keep their multibillion-dollar market caps.

While some of these “unicorns” — private companies valued at US$1 billion or more — are set to buck that trend, bankers expect a procession of others to have to cut their values over the next year.

Investors have begun to price private companies more consistently with the public market, which has taken a more conservative approach to valuation.     [FULL  STORY]

Flat panel firm confirms employees will be sent on furlough

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-06
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (????), one of Taiwan’s leading flat panel suppliers, confirmed Friday that it had asked its employees to take unpaid leave due to a supply glut in the global flat screen industry. Confirming local media reports, the company said the furloughs will begin Nov. 10 and continue until the end of December next year.

The reports said the furloughs are likely to affect some 3,000 employees of Chunghwa Picture Tubes, with most of them taking one or two days of unpaid leave per week, but the company did not confirm those estimates.

The furloughs will be implemented to avoid layoffs at a time when global demand for flat screens is weak, and will be reviewed every month, the Taoyuan-based company said. It said it was planning to inform the Taoyuan City government later in the day about the 14-month furlough plan and will also report to the city about its monthly reviews of the measure.

However, Pan Hung-lin, head of Taoyuan City’s Labor Department, said furloughs are usually approved for a maximum period of only three months at a time and his department will have to obtain the details of Chunghwa Picture Tubes’ plan.     [FULL  STORY]

MediaTek October sales hit record high

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/11/06
By: Jackson Chang and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) MediaTek Inc. (聯發科), one of Taiwan’s leading integrated circuit

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

designers, said Friday that its sales for October hit a monthly record high in the company’s history after it factored in sales posted by Richtek Technology Corp. (立錡科技), which it acquired in early October, dealers said.

Richtek, an analog IC designer, has started its contribution to MediaTek’s sales after MediaTek completed a tender offer on Oct. 7 to acquire a 51 percent stake in Richtek. MediaTek aims to acquire the remaining stake in Richtek by the end of the second quarter of 2016 in a bid to broaden its product portfolio.

Meanwhile, the sales growth in October also reflected solid demand for smartphone chips and chips used in smart home devices, the IC designer said. Smartphone chips serve as the major source of MediaTek’s revenue, accounting for about 60 percent of its total.     [FULL  STORY]