Uni-President Enterprises Co (
Uni-President, which has invested more than US$300 million in factories across the Taiwan Strait during the past decade, said sales in China of instant noodles, tea-based drinks and commodities such as animal feed will outstrip those in Taiwan, Tony Su, chief finance officer at Uni-President, said.
"We have seen single-month sales from China exceed those in Taiwan, so we are confident overall sales in China this year will overtake those in Taiwan," Su said. "Taiwan is a saturated market, whereas China is big and its per capita income is rising."
Annual disposable income for each of China's urban households may have exceeded 7,500 yuan (US$906) last year, according to estimates by the National Bureau of Statistics. The world's most populous country estimates that its gross domestic product increased 8 percent last year.
Taiwan's economy probably expanded 3.27 percent last year as rebounding exports pulled the nation out of a record 2.18 percent slump the year earlier. The jobless rate was a record 5.2 percent last year.
"For Uni-President, China presents a `second spring,'" said Belinda Yu, who manages NT$8 billion (US$230 million) of assets at Jih Sun Securities Investment Trust Co (
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