Record US$14.5bn in exports
Export orders rose 14.83 percent to an all-time monthly high of US$14.5 billion last month following a gradual global economic recovery, the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported yesterday.
Export orders are indicative of actual shipments in one to three months. Orders in the first seven months of the year totalled to US$93.21 billion, up 9.33 percent from the previous year, the ministry said.
Orders from Hong Kong rose 29 percent to US$3.4 billion last month, according to the ministry. Orders from the US, Taiwan's second-biggest export market, rose 8.8 percent to US$4 billion, while orders from Europe increased 15 percent to US$2 billion and those from Japan rose by a quarter to US$1.7 billion.
Electronic-goods orders rose 17 percent to US$2.8 billion and those for telecommunications equipment increased 29 percent to US$2.9 billion.
Industrial production rose 7.5 percent last month, after increasing a revised 2.3 percent in June, the ministry said.
Lin Chuan off to US
Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全) is scheduled to leave for the US today with a 46-member delegation to promote investment in Taiwan.
He will visit New York and Boston to host a "2003 Taiwan Investment Forum" and delivering speeches in both cities, Lin told a press conference yesterday.
Lin said he will highlight the nation's recent relaxation of foreign investment restrictions.
Lin said the government wants to make Taiwan a capital-raising hub in the Asia-Pacific region.
Lin also announced the appointment of Shea Jia-dong (許嘉 棟), former chairman of China External Trade Development Council, as the director general of Central Trust of China (中央信託局), replacing retiring Huang Rong-shean (黃榮顯).
Shea is scheduled to take office in the middle of next month.
Hon Hai to buy Eimo
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the nation's largest electronics manufacturer, will buy Finnish cellphone-cover maker Eimo Oyj for 67 million euros (US$74 million) to boost its presence in the mobile-phone industry.
Hon Hai, through its Foxconn Finland Invest Oy, will offer 1.04 euros for each Eimo share. The Paananen family, Eimo's main owner, will get 0.96 euro per share, Eimo said in a statement to the Helsinki exchange. The offer period is scheduled to start Sept. 4.
The Paananens said earlier they were in talks to sell the unprofitable company, which plans to shed assets and cut more jobs this year.
Mosel subject of trading probe
Mosel Vitelic Inc (茂矽), a partner in the country's second-largest memory-chip maker ProMOS Technol-ogies Inc (茂德科技), is under investigation by stock-market regulators on suspicion of insider trading, the local edition of Apple Daily reported, citing unidentified government officials.
Mosel sold 11.8 million shares in ProMOS in April without notifying stock-market regulators, triggering an investigation by the Securities and Futures Commission, the report said. The company could be fined as much as NT$600,000 (US$17,500) if found in violation.
Mosel on June 26 said it failed to pay part of a NT$1.6 billion bond, its second debt default in two months. The company in May deferred settlement of a NT$4.7 billion bond after missing payment in April.
NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar continued to gain ground against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.060 to close at NT$34.238 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$731 million.
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