Agricultural deal to be inked
A Taiwanese delegation was scheduled to sign a pact with US agricultural product suppliers yesterday for purchases worth about US$2.7 billion, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Repre-sentative Office (TECRO) in Washington reported Tuesday.
The 17-member delegation, led by Chen Hsi-huang (陳希煌), chairman of the Taiwan Grains & Seeds Development Foundation (雜糧發展基金會), was scheduled to sign a letter of intent with representatives from US traders' associations at a ceremony to be held on Capitol Hill, agreeing to purchase 13.7 million tonnes of corn, wheat and soybeans and millions of pig and cow hides next year and 2005 at a total price of US$2.7 billion, officials said.
Taiwan is the fifth largest export market for US agricultural products, surpassing all the major buyers from China, Britain, Germany and Australia.
Toshiba ups Compal PC order
Compal Electronics Inc's (仁寶電腦) orders to make notebook computers for Toshiba Corp will surge to 170,000 a month starting in the fourth quarter, from 90,000 this month and 20,000 previously, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.
Compal's total shipments will reach a record 600,000 units this month as a result of the increase, the paper said.
Toshiba said earlier this month that it will cut production of personal computers at its plants in Tokyo, Germany and the US and move more output to manufacturers such as Compal to cut costs.
Compal expects to boost annual capacity to 20 million units from 9 million by the end of next year at the earliest as it opens more factories in China, the paper said.
9% growth in IT forecast
Taiwan's information technology (IT) production is expected to exceed US$50 billion this year, thanks to flourishing development of the industry domestically and brisk demand overseas, the China External Trade Development Council (CETRA, 外貿協會) reported yesterday.
IT production is expected to grow some 9 percent this year from a year earlier to US$52.1 billion, council officials said at Computex Taipei.
The nation churned out US$47.8 billion-worth of IT products last year.
Last year, 63.7 percent of Tai-wan's IT products were made in overseas factories, about 30 percent of which are located in China, the officials said.
By product, notebook computers and monitors remained the pivotal products of the nation's IT industry. Production of those two categories reached some US$24.1 billion last year, constituting about 50 percent of the entire industry that year.
The growth of LCD monitor production has been particularly brisk owning to fast-growing market demand, the officials said, adding that with annual growth advancing some 70 percent over the last two years, production of LCD monitors has outpaced that of CRT monitors since last year.
NT dollar dips
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday turned lower against its US counterpart after the central bank said, if necessary, it will intervene to maintain the currency's stability.
The NT dollar slid NT$0.025 to close at NT$33.760 on the Taipei foreign exchange market, on a turnover of US$729 million.
Bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) said in a statement yesterday that if the foreign exchange market is disturbed by seasonal or irregular factors, the bank "will step in to maintain the dynamic stability of the exchange rate."
"With a sustained balance of payments surplus and a flexible exchange rate regime, Taiwan is in a good position to deal with speculative attacks," Perng said.
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