Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-20
By: CNA

Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a greenlight to allow Teco Electric &

Machinery, one of Taiwan’s leading industrial motor suppliers, to acquire Italy-based Motovario.

In a statement, the FTC said that the acquisition planned by Teco is not expected to impose any adversary impact on market competition in Taiwan as buyers here have options to choose other industrial motor suppliers locally.

At the end of July, Teco announced that it will buy a 100% stake in Motovario, an Italian power transmission system maker, for €186 million (US$199 million).

Founded in 1965, Motovario produces large gear reducers, motors and other power transmission products, with particular focus on worm gears for which it is a global player.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/20
By: Lin Meng-ju, Pan Chi-i and Jeffrey Wu

Taipei, Sept. 20 (CNA) Domestic gasoline and diesel prices will fall by NT$0.4 (US$0.0124) per liter on Monday to reflect a decline in international crude oil prices over the past week, suppliers said Sunday.

With effect from midnight Sunday, the new prices will be NT$20.5 per liter for super diesel, NT$22.7 per liter for 92 octane unleaded gasoline, NT$24.2 per liter for 95 octane unleaded gasoline and NT$26.2 per liter for 98 octane unleaded gasoline, according to the website of CPC Corp., Taiwan (中油).

The adjustment came after the state-run Kuwait National Petroleum Co. lowered prices for its Asian customers amid growing market concerns over a slowdown in the global economy triggered mainly by the recent weak performance of China’s stock market, CPC said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-19
By: CNA

Taiwan-based Mandarin Airlines will launch chartered flights between Taichung in central Taiwan and the southern Japanese cities of Oita and Nagasaki next month to meet increasing market demand in autumn.

Round-trip flights to Oita will operate on Oct. 11, 19, 27 and Nov. 4, 12, 20, 28, while those to Nagasaki will operate on Oct. 7, 15, 23, 31 and Nov. 8, 16, 24.

The flights will be launched to coincide with the time of year that leaves change color for Autumn in Japan, traditionally a peak travel period.

The cities are situated in northern Kyushu, the most southwesterly of Japan’s four main islands. It is famous for its hot springs, the Huis Ten Bosch amusement park and the Aso Kuju National Park.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/19
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Frances Huang

Taipei, Sept. 19 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) is likely to report a year-on-year decline in export orders for August, the fifth such drop, due mainly to the continued weakness of international crude oil prices, ministry sources said Saturday.

In addition, the August figure is expected to be affected by a relatively high comparison base in the same month of last year, the sources said.

In July, Taiwan’s export orders declined 5 percent from a year earlier to US$36.29 billion as lower crude oil prices continued to depress petrochemical product prices and the growth of the global economy remained fragile.

Taiwan’s export orders totaled US$253.33 billion in the first seven months of 2015, down 2.1 percent year-on-year.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-19
By: CNA

The key to the development of big data lies in “a change of thinking,” vice premier Chang

San-cheng said Thursday at a forum with Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, the co-author of Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think.

Embracing a big data mindset is also important, Chang said, while praising Chunghwa Telecom chair Rick Tsai for his efforts to promote big data in various business sectors.

Also at the forum, Tsai said that through big data analytics, Chunghwa Telecom has yielded some positive results in cost reduction and he hopes the company can leverage big data to generate business value.

Chunghwa Telecom has numerous mobile phone subscribers, broadband access users and media-on-demand service users and this type of information constitutes big data, Tsai said, adding that the company has set up a big data division with less than 100 employees and big data will become a business sector in the company in the future.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/18
By: Y.C. Tsai and Lillian Lin

Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) Taipei ranks 37 among 71 cities worldwide and is fourth-highest among Asian cities in terms of wage levels, while ranking 26th among the world’s most expensive cities, according to the UBS Prices and Earnings 2015 released Friday.

While the wage level is the fourth-highest among Asian cities, next to Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul, home rental prices in Taipei are comparatively higher than Tokyo and Seoul, according to the report.

Hong Kong is the most expensive city in Asia in terms of rent, with the monthly rent for a furnished two-room apartment amounting to US$4,410, and an unfurnished three-room apartment going for US$4,220. This is followed closely by Taipei, where renting a furnished two-room apartment could cost US$2,030 per month, and an unfurnished three-room apartment US$2,740 monthly.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/18
By: Tsai Yi-chu and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced Friday that a temporary ban on the short selling of stocks under certain circumstances will be lifted on Monday.

The FSC noted, however, that it will continue to keep tabs on the financial situation at home and abroad and monitor securities transactions to be ready to take other measures to stabilize the market as needed.

The ban, imposed by the FSC on Aug. 24, prohibited investors from short selling stocks or Taiwan depositary receipts that had fallen below the closing prices of the previous session to ease irrational market movements and revive investor confidence.

FSC Chairman Tseng Ming-tsung (曾銘宗) said the commission’s decision to lift the ban was mainly based on three considerations.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-18
By: CNA

Taiwan’s fixed asset investment in manufacturing reported a 3.5% year-on-year drop in the

second quarter of 2015, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Wednesday, but added that it was optimistic about investment prospects for the second half of the year.

In the second quarter of the year, Taiwan saw a total of NT$229.5 billion (US$7.06 billion) in fixed assets investment in the manufacturing sector, the ministry’s latest statistics showed.

This also represented the country’s continued drop in fixed asset investment for the second quarter in a row, it added.

Among the investments in the manufacturing sector, a total of NT$148.1 billion (US$4.6 billion) came from the electronic components industry, a 1.3% increase from the same period last year, said the ministry, which attributed the growth to chip manufacturers investing in expanding their plants.     [FULL  STORY]