MARKETING HYPE:Amid Ghost Month tradition and possible advertising saturation, presale housing development projects in northern Taiwan have stalled after a boom

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 07, 2015
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Presale housing projects in northern Taiwan dropped to a 14-year low of NT$11.8 billion (US$359.39 million) last month. The figure corresponds to an amount less than 30 percent of the total in June, as concerns over sluggish transactions drove developers to sit out the lunar Ghost Month.

Ghost Month, during which people tend to shun moving into new apartments, starting businesses or getting married in order to avoid bad luck, falls between Aug. 14 and Sept. 12 this year.

“Tradition aside, the nation’s poor economy and stock rout feed unease among prospective buyers,” Housing Monthly (住展雜誌) research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said in a telephone interview.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-05
By: By Lee Hsin-Yin, Central News Agency

Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) Tigerair Taiwan, a joint venture between Taiwan’s China Airlines and Singapore’s Tiger Airways, said on its first anniversary Saturday that its passenger volume could reach 500,000 by the end of September. This will be a significant landmark for Taiwan’s aviation industry, said Tigerair Taiwan, which became the country’s first budget carrier on Sept. 26, 2014. The airline, currently using six A320 jets to fly to foreign destinations of Tokyo, Okinawa, Osaka, Macau, Bangkok and Singapore, said it will continue expanding its fleet and launching new routes that meet market demand. To help the public better relate to its brand, Tigerair Taiwan held a celebration with the Taipei Zoo on Saturday, during which the airline vowed to become the zoo’s partner in raising awareness about tiger conservation.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/05
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) has decided to remove smartphone vendor HTC Corp. (宏達電) from the FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 Index following a quarterly review and HTC’s spot will be taken by Eclat Textile Co. (儒鴻), an elastic functional fabric product provider, the TWSE said.

The index adjustments will come into effect on Sept. 21, the exchange added. Market analysts said that the removal of HTC reflected the heavy losses the stock has suffered in recent sessions, amid lingering concerns over the smartphone maker’s earnings outlook.

In the first half of this year, HTC incurred NT$9.70 (US$0.30) in losses per share and the company has forecast it will post an additional NT$5.51 to NT$5.85 in net loss per share in the third quarter, amid escalating competition.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-05
By: Yen Huai-shing

In January, China issued a comprehensive draft of the Foreign Investment Law for public comment. The new law is expected to replace the existing three acts related to foreign investment. After it takes effect, the Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture Law, the Sino-Foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Law and the Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise Law will be abolished.

Under the new law, Taiwanese investors in China will be perceived as quasi-foreign investors and will have to abide by the new legislation and be treated the same as foreign investors from other countries.

After the implementation of the new law, China will change the way in which it supervises and handles foreign investment. For example, apart from a list that will specify the businesses in which foreign investors are not allowed to engage without restrictions, foreign firms will not need to seek approval in advance to do business under a new market access mechanism. In the case of businesses covered by the list, foreign investors will still need to secure approval following a review process by the Chinese authorities.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/04
By: C.W. Huang and Lillian Lin

Taipei, Sept. 4 (CNA) Taiwan is looking forward to the implementation of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA), which can help boost its gross domestic product (GDP), industrial productivity, and foreign trade, by increasing the efficiency of customs procedures, an economics official said Friday.

The official from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) pointed out that as of Thursday, 15 of the 160 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have ratified the TFA. Among these countries and territories are the United States, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan.

WTO members reached consensus on the TFA in December 2013 at the Bali ministerial conference. The agreement will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO members have completed their domestic ratification process.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: , Sep 05, 2015
By: Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter

Major container shippers are set to see little or flat growth in the second half as demand remains tepid in the cyclical high season, Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧) said yesterday.

Jih Sun said in a report that shippers led by Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) began adjusting their operations last month in the face of oversupply in the marine cargo transport business.

Most shippers felt pressured by the cost of idling 10,000 20-foot-equivalent unit (TEU) freighters, the brokerage said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-04
By: C.W. Huang and Lillian Lin, Central News Agency

Taipei, Sept. 4 (CNA) Taiwan is looking forward to the implementation of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA), which can help boost its gross domestic product (GDP), industrial productivity, and foreign trade, by increasing the efficiency of customs procedures, an economics official said Friday.

The official from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) pointed out that as of Thursday, 15 of the 160 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have ratified the TFA.

Among these countries and territories are the United States, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan. WTO members reached consensus on the TFA in December 2013 at the Bali ministerial conference. The agreement will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO members have completed their domestic ratification process.     [FULL  STORY]

INVESTMENT PROPOSAL CONCERNS:Bank employees are against the planned IPO, fearing that their job security and benefits could be threatened by the scheme

Taipei Times
Date:  Sep 04, 2015
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Deputy Minister of Finance Wu Tang-chieh (吳當傑), who is acting chairman of the state-owned Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行), yesterday said the lender would press ahead with plans to raise new funds through an initial public offering (IPO).

Wu took up the position yesterday from Shiu Kuang-si (徐光曦), who was appointed to the helm of state-run Hua Nan Financial Holding Co (華南金控) after former chairman Liu Teng-cheng (劉燈城) retired upon turning 65 years old.

Land Bank employees staged a demonstration before the swearing-in ceremony to protest the IPO plan, saying that they feared it might lead to the mortgage-focused lender’s privatization and dilute their benefits.     [FULL  STORY]