Business and Finance

Acer, Asustek maintain ranking among world’s top 10 PC vendors

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/24/2020
By: Jeffrey Wu and Frances Huang

Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) Two Taiwanese PC makers, Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc., were again ranked in the top 10 worldwide in terms of shipments, although their market shares declined slightly in 2019, according to global market information advisory firm Gartner.

Gartner data showed that Acer maintained its place at fifth on the list, with shipments of 14.76 million PCs in 2019, although that number represented a 6.1 percent annual decline and the company's global market share fell to 5.7 percent from 6.1 percent the previous year.

Meanwhile, Asustek retained its ranking as the world's sixth largest PC vendor in 2019, despite an annual drop in its global market share from 5.9 percent to 5.5 percent and a 6.2 percent annual decline in shipments to 14.48 million units, the data showed.

Globally, PC shipments rose 0.6 percent in 2019 from a year earlier to 261.24 million units, returning to growth for the first time in seven years, according to Gartner.    [FULL  STORY]

EU widens Taiwan, China, Indonesia steel tariff threat

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 25, 2020
By: Bloomberg

The EU ordered its customs officials to register flat-rolled stainless steel imports from China, Taiwan and Indonesia, widening the threat of tariffs on the shipments.

The step is part of an inquiry into whether Chinese, Taiwanese and Indonesian producers of hot-rolled, stainless-steel sheets and coils sold them in the EU below cost, a practice known as dumping. The move also covers a parallel EU probe of alleged trade-distorting subsidies to the manufacturers in China and Indonesia.

Registration allows the EU to impose possible tariffs on past transactions. Levies against below-cost imports are known as anti-dumping duties, while import taxes in response to subsidies are called countervailing duties.

The shipments from China, Taiwan and Indonesia will “be made subject to registration for the purpose of ensuring that, should the investigation result in findings leading to the imposition of anti-dumping and/or countervailing duties, those duties can, if the necessary conditions are fulfilled, be levied retroactively on the registered imports,” the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm in Brussels, said on Friday in the Official Journal.    [FULL  STORY]

STARLUX Airlines Operates Inaugural Flights

Aviation Tribune
Date: January 23, 2020

After almost three years of preparation, STARLUX Airlines announced the launch of its inaugural flights today, flying to three destinations—Macau, Da Nang and Penang—with three flights to Macau, two flights to Da Nang and one flight to Penang respectively.  

“Finally, STARLUX officially launched today and is able to welcome passengers aboard to experience the meticulous service we’ve been curating for almost three years. I would like to give credit to my whole team and all the supervisors, and related departments. As a brand-new carrier, we will fulfill our responsibility to provide safe and high-quality service. At the same time, we will make every effort to make the airline industry in Taiwan better together with our government and other airlines,” said STARLUX Chairman K.W. Chang. 

As a passionate qualified pilot himself, Chang has taken every opportunity to personally fly the airline company’s new aircraft. Not only did he fly the first three A321neos back to Taiwan from Hamburg, he also flew the second round trip to Macau and back, flights JX203 and JX204 today.
[FULL  STORY]

2000 Taiwanese businesspeople grounded in Wuhan during LNY holiday

Lockdown on central Chinese city effective Jan. 23 applies to air, ground transportation

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/23
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(AP photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As Chinese authorities have locked down Wuhan, the epicenter of the potentially deadly coronavirus outbreak, around 2,000 Taiwanese businesspeople in the city are believed to have been prevented from returning home to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday with their families.

According to media reports, all public and air transportation systems in Wuhan have all been suspended since Thursday morning (Jan. 23) after the number of confirmed cases in China skyrocketed to 571 and the official death toll rose to 17. To prevent the spread of the virus, citizens are not allowed to leave the city.

Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation confirmed the news, saying a total of 12 outbound flights from Wuhan to Taiwan have been suspended under the new quarantine order, with around 2,000 Taiwanese businesspeople likely stranded in the city.

The flights being affected include those operated by China Airlines (Mondays and Thursdays: Taoyuan-Wuhan); China Eastern Airlines (Mondays and Thursdays: Taoyuan-Wuhan); China Southern Airlines (Fridays: Taoyuan-Wuhan); Mandarin Airlines (Wednesdays and Saturdays: Taipei-Wuhan); China Eastern Airlines (Fridays and Sundays: Kaohsiung-Wuhan); and China Southern Airlines (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays: Kaohsiung-Wuhan).    [FULL  STORY]

Record passenger numbers expected at airport during LNY

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/23/2020
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport could see record passenger numbers between Jan. 17 and Feb. 4 because of Lunar New Year holiday travel, according to the airport management company.

Average passenger visits could hit 160,000 per day in the period that includes the Jan. 23-29 holiday, up 4.6 percent from the average seen around last Lunar New Year, according to the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Co. (TIAC).

During peak travel periods, expected between Jan. 22-24 and Jan. 28-Feb. 1, the country's main gateway could handle over 163,000 passengers each day, the company said.

The traffic surge around the Lunar New Year could be attributed to 1,423 extra flights, which account for 9.2 percent of the total flights between Jan. 17 and Feb. 4, it said.
[FULL  STORY]

Wholesale sales reverse four months of declines

STRONG ORDERS: The timing of the Lunar New Year has generated rosy sales of food, beverages, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and household appliances

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 24, 2020
By: Natasha Li  /  Staff reporter

Sales generated by the nation’s wholesale sector increased 4.8 percent on an annual basis last month to NT$883.2 billion (US$29.41 billion), ending four consecutive months of annual declines, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ statistics department said on Wednesday.

The sector has mainly the machinery equipment industry to thank for its recovery, as it posted a 6.5 percent year-on-year increase in sales last month to NT$330.4 billion, contributing around 37.41 percent of the sector’s overall revenue.

“Companies have reported strong orders of mobile phones and other network communication devices for last month,” Department of Statistics Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) told a press conference on Wednesday in Taipei, adding that domestic investments from the semiconductor sector have also been partly responsible for the industry’s growth.

As the Lunar New Year falls on an earlier date this year, the food, beverage and tobacco industry, the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry, and the household appliances industry all witnessed rosy sales last month, increasing 7.7 percent, 10.6 percent and 8.9 percent year-on-year respectively, the ministry’s data showed.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s STARLUX marks launch with network expansion plans

Taiwanese startup STARLUX Airlines is adding a fourth destination to its network with service to Cebu in the Philippines.

Routes Online
Date: January 2020
By David Casey

Taiwanese startup STARLUX Airlines, described as a luxury boutique airline, will operate Taipei Taoyuan-Cebu service with an Airbus A321neo aircraft. Flights will be daily from April 6, 2020.

Cebu, the host of Routes Asia 2019, will become STARLUX’s fourth route, joining Taipei-Macau, Taipei-Penang and Taipei-Da Nang. According to OAG Schedules Analyser, from the w/c April 6, Cebu, Penang and Da Nang will all be 1x-daily, and Macau will be 3x-daily.

STARLUX has been founded by Chang Kuo-wei, a former chairman of EVA Air. It secured its air operator’s certificate (AOC) from the Taiwan Ministry of Transport and Communications in December ahead of its first commercial flight on Jan. 23.

The airline has three A321neos in its fleet with seven more leased from GE Capital Aviation Services due by the end of 2021. In addition, it has 12 A3501000s and five A350-900s on order.
[FULL  STORY8]

Taiwan’s minister of economic affairs discloses priorities

To this day the total investment in Taiwan by reshoring businesses has reached NT$800 billion (about US$26.5 billion)

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/22
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (right) (CNA photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said on Wednesday that his work priorities for this year are to facilitate investment by reshoring Taiwanese businesses and to increase job opportunities for the people, CNA reported on Wednesday.

To this day the total investment in Taiwan by reshoring businesses has reached NT$800 billion (about US$26.5 billion), the minister noted.

Speaking to Taiwan's industrial strength, Shen said that multinational corporations, such as Facebook, Google, Amazon and Nvidia, have invested in Taiwan, making Taiwan an important research center for emerging technologies, according to the report.

With regard to the semiconductor sector, the minister went on to say that the yield of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) five-nanometer chips has reached 90 percent, exceeding those of Samsung and Intel, the report said.    [FULL  STORY]

FAT fined another NT$1.5 million for non-payment of employees

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/22/2.020
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) Far Eastern Air Transport Corp. (FAT) was fined another NT$1.5 million (US$49,200) by labor authorities Wednesday for failing to making outstanding salary payments to its 1,000 employees.

It was the second time a fine was imposed on the cash-strapped airline this month for not being able to meet its commitments to its workers, according to Chen Kun-hung (陳昆鴻), an official at Taipei City's Department of Labor.

On Jan. 6, the carrier was fined NT$1.5 million after it failed to pay the December salaries of its 1,000 employees, which would have amounted to NT$50 million, Chen said.

Following its default on its payments again on Jan. 21, a second fine of NT$1.5 million was imposed on the carrier for breach of responsibility, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Jobless rate dips slightly last month

RELATIVELY STABLE: For all of last year, the rate was under 3.73 percent, just 0.02 percent higher than the previous year, even though firms were affected by the US-China trade dispute

Taipei Times
.Date: Jan 23, 2020
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The unemployment rate last month fell slightly to 3.67 percent, a 0.06 percentage points less than a month earlier, as fewer people quit or lost jobs due to downsizing or closures, the Directorate-General of Accounting, Budget and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

After seasonal adjustments, the rate shed 1 percentage point to 3.72 percent, affirming a stable job market, Census Department Deputy Director Pan Ning-hsin (潘寧馨) told a media briefing.

The rate last month weakened from 0.04 to 0.12 percentage points for the past decade, and last year proved no exception, thanks to an increase in seasonal and temporary hiring before the year-end, Pan said.

For the whole of last year, the jobless rate stood at 3.73 percent, up 0.02 percentage points from a year earlier, as many local firms were affected by a US-China trade dispute, the effects of which began to show in the second half of 2018, Pan said.    [FULL  STORY]