Focus Taiwan
Date:\ 03/20/2020
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) A project to build a third terminal at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport has received a major budget boost of NT$16 billion (US$530 million), and is scheduled to be completed in 2026, the airport operator said Friday.

The company's board of directors agreed on a total budget of NT$95 billion for the project at a meeting on March 18, including NT$53.7 billion for the main terminal building, said Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Co. (TIAC).

Construction of the main building is scheduled to be completed in 2025, with its northern and southern concourses finished in 2024 and 2026, respectively, according to TIAC.

That represents a significant delay for the project which started in 2017 and was initially scheduled to be operational by 2021, after several unsuccessful tenders due to low interest from local building contractors.    [FULL  STORY]

TURNING IT AROUND: Manufacturers in ‘all product categories’ have started to shift production back to Taiwan ‘to mitigate the effects’ of COVID-19 on China’s supply chain

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 21, 2020
By: Natasha Li / Staff reporter

Export orders declined 0.8 percent year-on-year last month to US$28.68 billion as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted production, supply chains and logistics in China, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

On a monthly basis, export orders contracted 18.8 percent from US$35.31 billion, ministry statistics showed.

The ministry said it expects the decline to accelerate this month.

Orders for information and communications technology (ICT) products, one of Taiwan’s most important export categories, was most affected as orders fell 23.4 percent year-on-year to US$6.05 billion.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan's GDP growth will fall below 2% in 2020: Central Bank

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/03/19
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Central Bank on Thursday (March 19) cut the interest rate to 1.125 percent, a lower rate than in the wake of the 2008 Euro crisis, in order to offset the impact of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The 0.25-percent cut for the discount rate ended a string of 14 quarterly meetings which decided to leave interest rates unchanged, media reported. The Central Bank met as President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) called for calm on the stock market and the National Stabilization Fund was reported to prepare intervention.

At the same time, the Central Bank also revised its forecast for the country’s Gross Domestic Product growth for 2020 to 1.92 percent, ending hopes that it might stay above 2 percent, CNA reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 03/19/2020
By Ku Chuan and Matthew Mazzetta)

Taipei, March 19 (CNA) The management committee of Taiwan's National Financial Stabilization Fund determined Thursday that the legally-defined conditions for its intervention in Taiwan's financial markets have been met, allowing a possible injection of funds as soon as Friday.

The Executive Yuan announced the authorization at an evening press conference attended by Cabinet spokesperson Kolas Yotaka, Finance Minister Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) and Juan Ching-hwa (阮清華), the fund's executive secretary.

The move follows several days of turmoil on international stock markets, which have suffered amid the growing economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the United States Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1,338 points, or 6.30 percent, dropping below 20,000 for the first time in three years. The Nasdaq Composite fell 4.7 percent, while trade on the S&P 500 index was briefly halted due to steep declines, before closing down 5.18 percent.    [FULL  STORY]

SEEKING STABILITY: Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director Sam Chang said that the market ‘appeared irrational,’ but it was not as ‘crazy’ as it was in 2008

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 20, 2020 
By: Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter

The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday announced a short-selling ban on the

Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange (TPEX), starting today, as it attempts to curb speculative trading amid “irrational declines on the stock market.”

Unlike previous bans imposed in 1998, 2008 and 2015, which applied to all stocks, this ban applies only to stocks that showed a decline of 3.5 percent or more a day earlier, Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director Sam Chang (張振山) told a news conference in New Taipei City.

The TAIEX fell 5.83 percent and the TPEX dropped 7.53 percent yesterday, and 1,233 stocks on the two boards reported declines of more than 3.5 percent, the commission’s data showed.

Tech heavyweights Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Largan Precision Co (大立光) fell 3.69 percent and 9.72 percent respectively.    [FULL  STORY]

Car owners who wait until Monday to fill up could save an amount equal to two lunchboxes

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/03/15
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — People who are thinking about filling up today might as well wait until tomorrow to enjoy the biggest oil price drop the country has ever seen.

In response to the tumbling value of international crude oil, Taiwan's state-run oil refiner CPC Corp announced on Sunday that, starting from 12:00 a.m. on Monday, gasoline and diesel prices at CPC retail pumps across the country will drop by NT$3.8 and NT$4 per liter, respectively, bringing the price per liter for diesel to only NT$17.7, CNA reported.

The new prices at the pumps will be NT$20.3 per liter for 92 unleaded gasoline, NT$21.8 for 95 unleaded, NT23.8 for 98 unleaded, and NT$17.7 for premium diesel, according to the report. Owners of a car with a 50-liter tank who wait until Monday to fill up will save up to NT$190 — about enough to buy two bento lunchboxes    [FULL  STORY]

Company moves software developers event online

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/03/14
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Apple Inc. announced Saturday (March 14) it was closing hundreds of retail stores outside of Taiwan and China until March 27 amid the expansion of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The best way to limit infections was to “reduce density” and “maximize social distance,” the Bloomberg news service quoted a letter from Apple CEO Tim Cook. The tech company counts 460 stores outside of Taiwan and China, including 270 in the United States, where the epidemic has only recently started to expand.

Corporate employees have been asked to work remotely, while hourly employees at the closed shops will continue to receive their original pay.

Since a majority of Apple’s products are built by a supply chain including China, and including Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, the company has been affected by factory closures, leading to delivery problems for iPhones and iPad models, Bloomberg reported.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 03/14/2020
By: Jeffrey Wu, Liu Pei-cheng and Frances Huang

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) Acer Inc., one of the leading PC brands in Taiwan, is buying back its own shares on the open market in a bid to bolster its share price, as the global markets are being battered by escalating fears over the COVID-19 coronavirus disease.

In a statement released Thursday after the close of trade on the local equity market, Acer said the share buyback would last over 35 trading sessions, from March 13 to May 5.

During that period, the company said, it will buy back up to 230 million common shares at a price of NT$10.05 (US$0.33) to NT$13.50.

If the company's share price falls below that range, the buyback program will continue past May 5, Acer said.    [FULL  STORY]