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Esso announces price cuts
Esso Petroleum Taiwan Inc (台灣埃索), a joint venture between ExxonMobil and Pan Overseas Corp (匯僑), said yesterday that it would match Formosa Petrochem-ical Corp (台塑石化) and Chinese Petroleum Corp's (中油) price cuts, starting midnight tonight.

Esso Petroleum, which supplies oil products to some 40 gas stations nationwide, said it would slash gasoline pump prices by NT$1 per liter and by NT$0.50 for diesel.

The company will cut gasoline pump prices by NT$1.8 per liter at four of its gas stations -- one in Taipei, one in Kaohsiung and two in Taichung -- to compete with its rivals, said Jack Lai (賴東昭), vice president of Esso Petroleum.

China Motor recalls Savrins
China Motor Corp (中華汽車) said yesterday it will recall 24,000 Savrin minivans because of concerns their brake hoses could rupture, after Mitsubishi Motors Corp announced on Wednesday to recall 240,000 vehicles of six models to repair brake hoses and other defective parts.

China Motor said the recall costs will be completely absorbed by Mitsubishi, according to public relations manager Kelly Chang (張嘉芬).

"Therefore we don't expect that costs will affect our earnings estimate for this year," Chang said.

China Motor, which assembles and distributes cars for Mitsu-bishi, reported earlier this week that its first quarter sales reached NT$13.20 billion, up 4.5 percent from a year earlier, due to strong sales of Lioncel sedans in China. The company predicts NT$7 billion in pre-tax earnings for this year.

Airport user fees reduced
Airport rentals and some other fees have been cut to help domestic airlines tide over the effects of atypical pneumonia, a Ministry of Transportation and Communica-tions official said yesterday.

The measures included a 25 percent reduction in airport rentals and landing/take-off fees for domestic routes.

"We have decided to reinstate the measures, retroactive on January 1, as local airline business is getting worse, particularly after the outbreak of SARS disease," the official said.

The relief measures are expected to save China Airlines Co (華航), Far East Air Transport Corp (遠東), UNI Airways Corp (立榮) and Trans Asia Airways (復興) some NT$190 million (US$5.46 million) a year, the ministry estimates.

Next Chunghwa auction set
The government will offer 500 million shares in Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) to local investors between April 10 and 16 after it failed last month to sell 100 million shares, betting investors will be attracted by an imminent dividend.

The government will offer the stake, valued at NT$27 billion (US$776 million) at the stock's closing price of NT$54 yesterday, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement.

``We are betting investors will be lured by the dividend payment,'' said Wang Ting-chun (王廷俊), a Ministry of Transportation and Communications section chief.

The company is expected to pay a NT$4 cash dividend this year, representing a yield of 7.4 percent based on its current share price, according to sale manager Capital Securities Corp (群益證券).

Foreign-currency reserves up
Foreign-currency reserves rose to a record US$168.64 billion last month, up US$6.98 billion from a year earlier, the central bank said yesterday in a statement. Reserves rose US$2.3 billion, or 1.4 percent, from February.

NT dollar gains slightly
The New Taiwan dollar gained yesterday against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.042 to close at NT$34.75 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$287.5 million.
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