■ Tours to Bali reduced
The breakout of dysentery cases among Taiwanese tourists who visited Bali last month has had a noticeable impact on outbound travel to the Indonesian island, Wu Yen-hui (吳雁輝), an official at the Taipei Association of Travel Agents (台北市旅行公會) said yesterday.
Wu said the outbreak last month has largely affected the business of domestic travel agencies, prompting airplane ticket prices on regular flights from Taipei to Bali to drop by more than 30 percent from the high-season level for the July to October period, which cost NT$12,000 (US$355) for two persons on a round trip.
Charter plane services arranged by travel agencies in southern Taiwan have been more affected, with nearly 50 percent of the customers booking for group tours slated to leave this month canceling their reservations, Wu said.
■ Dependence on China grows
Taiwan tops other countries in dependence on Chinese market in the first nine months of this year, with 24.3 percent of the nation's total exports for the period heading to China, according to the latest tallies from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
The figure has increased over those of the previous two years, the agency said. Last year, 22.2 percent of exports for the same period went to China, and the figure was 19.6 percent in 2001.
During the same period of time, South Korea's exports to China made up 17.7 percent of its total exports, and those for Japan at 12 percent, Russia at 7.7 percent and Thailand at 6.9 percent.
■ Compal says Q1 to beat Q4
Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦) expects its first quarter results next year to be better than this year's fourth quarter on strong demand from customers including Hewlett-Packard Co, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing unidentified executives.
The notebook computer maker will report record sales of NT$20.1 billion for last month, the paper said, adding that this month's revenue will probably increase.
The company has avoided shortages of parts such as flat-panel displays and hard-disk drives because customers such as HP and Dell Inc secured supplies of the components, the report said.
■ Debt ratings raised
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) and other units of the country's largest industrial group, had their long-term debt ratings raised one level by Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), a Standard & Poor's affiliate.
Formosa Plastics, Nan Ya Plastics, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台塑化纖), Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) and Mailiao Power Corp (麥寮電廠) had their ratings raised to twAA-, the fourth-highest level, from twA+, Taiwan Ratings said. The ratings were raised because of an expansion in the group's sixth naphtha cracking project.
"The expansion has enabled the group to increase its revenue, profitability and cash flow amid stable industry conditions," Taiwan Ratings said.
■ AU Optronics sales double
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation's largest maker of flat panel displays used in computers and televisions, said last month's sales doubled from a year earlier.
Sales rose to NT$10.6 billion (US$310.8 million), from NT$5 billion, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. October sales were NT$10.4 billion.
■ NT dollar holds steady
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday remained strong against its US counterpart, edging up NT$0.017 to close at NT$34.098 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
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