Asia One
Date: Oct 5, 2015

STORM IN A TEACUP: TWG officials said that tests are expensive and impossible to do

for every one of the 300 pesticides in existence. Still, TWG Tea is working with the Taiwanese authorities on the issue.

Hong Kong media were in a flap this week over excessive pesticide residue found in a batch of TWG Tea sent to Taiwan, but the issue is overblown, said the luxury tea retailer on Friday evening.

Maranda Barnes, director of communications and business development at TWG Tea, told The Business Times that different markets have different tests that incoming agricultural products are put through, and the batch had passed tests in Singapore.

“Every year, we send 800 types of tea to Taiwan with no issues,” she said.

In a Sept 29 notice, Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration said that it had found excessive levels of pesticide residues in a 25kg batch of TWG Tea’s “Chamomile Green Tea” exported from India.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwn
Date: 2015/10/04
By: Jalen Chung and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Oct. 4 (CNA) Legal action by Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE) to try to stop a provisional meeting of shareholders of Siliconware Precision Industries Co. slated for Oct. 15 will be a disaster for Taiwan’s stock market if the action is successful, John Hsuan (宣明智), an independent board member of Siliconware, warned Sunday.

ASE filed an injunction with a court in Taichung on Friday to stop the Oct. 15 meeting from being held, and analysts said the injunction is expected to block a stock swap deal between Siliconware, an IC packaging and testing firm, and the world’s largest contract electronics maker, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.

“If the ASE injunction request is granted, it could be a disaster for Taiwan’s stock market” because it will confuse people with regard to the definition of shareholders’ ownership, Hsuan said, warning that the confusion could compromise all shareholder meetings of listed and over-the-counter companies in the future.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-04
By: CNA

Online shopping using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets is becoming

increasingly popular in Taiwan, the national daily United Evening News reported Saturday.

Citing sales data from online shopping site operators Yahoo Taiwan and Kuo Brothers, the paper said the number of people who shop online using mobile devices overtook those using personal computers in February and has increased by more than 90% over the past six months.

Jacky Wang, vice president of the e-commerce group at Yahoo Taiwan, told the paper that online shoppers particularly like to shop using mobile devices during weekends and holidays because people nowadays tend to pay attention to leisure, and not touching computers has become one of the signs of relaxing. “When people think of buying things, they pick up their smartphones,” he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-03
By: CNA

South Korea hopes to sign two agreements on economic issues with Taiwan by the end

of the year to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation, according to South Korea’s top envy to Taiwan.

The two sides are in talks on an agreement on investment protection and a pact to avoid double taxation, Cho Baek-sang, head of the Korean Mission in Taipei, told CNA in a recent interview.

“We are focusing on negotiating the two agreements,” he said through an interpreter in response to questions on the progress of the negotiations, and expressed his hope that the pacts will be signed by the end of this year.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/01
By: Jeffrey Wu

Taipei, Oct. 1 (CNA) Deputy United States Trade Representative Robert Holleyman said Thursday that the issue of U.S. beef and pork imports to Taiwan has complicated the ongoing discussions about a bilateral investment agreement (BIA).

One of the persistent questions from U.S. legislators is “how good of a job have our trading partners done in living up to their past trade commitments,” Holleyman said, pointing out that any bilateral investment agreement would have to get past the U.S. Congress.

“So the challenges around beef and pork do complicate the ongoing discussion about a bilateral investment agreement,” he said at a press conference after the latest round of trade talks between Taiwan and the U.S. under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in Taipei.

Although the issue of U.S. pork imports was not on the agenda of the TIFA meeting, the U.S. delegation, led by Holleyman, mentioned that the two sides still have work to do to ensure that Taiwan’s food safety regulations are based on science and are consistent with international standards, according to Cho Shih-chao (卓士昭), Taiwan’s deputy economics minister.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-01
By: CNA

Taiwan’s economic indicators flashed a “blue” light for the third consecutive month in

August, indicating a sluggish economic growth, the National Development Council (NDC) said Wednesday.

The overall composite score of the business monitoring indicators was 14 points, on a par with the previous month and was the lowest since May 2012. It was also the fourth time that Taiwan’s key economic indicator flashed a blue light this year.

The indicator first flashed a “blue” light in April, followed by a “yellow-blue” light when the overall scores rose to 18 points in May.

The council employs a five-color system to gauge the country’s economic performance, with “blue” (9-16 points) indicating a sluggish economy, “yellow-blue” (17-22) representing an economic slump, “green” (23-31) meaning a stable growth, “yellow-red” (32-27) translating into a heating economy while “red” (38-45) pointing to an overheated economy.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/29
By: Chiu Po-sheng and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Sept. 29 (CNA) Taiwan’s consumer confidence continued to weaken in September, dropping for five consecutive months, according to a survey released Tuesday by National Central University.

The survey indicated that the consumer confidence index (CCI) for September dropped 0.83 points from a month earlier to 85.32, falling for five months in a row, according to the university’s Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development.

The sub-index for consumer prices rose 0.5 points from a month earlier to 59.20, while the sub-index for the timing of equity market investment remained the same at 73.20.

The other four sub-indices all fell in September, with the local job market registering a 2.55 point drop to 113.20, and family finances sliding 1.2 points to 87.20.     [FULL  STORY]