The state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (
"After gaining preliminary approval, the Long Life (
Hwang added that Chinese authorities may only allow 30,000 boxes of Long Life cigarettes, worth NT$200 million, to enter its markets in the first year, which he called a "small yet significant step to gain market share in China."
Each Long Life pack will sell for 15 yuan in provinces along the east coast and the Yangtze River (長江), according to Hwang.
Although it is interested in entering China's beer market, the state-run monopoly has met a setback in introducing its Taiwan Beer to China, which appears to boycott the beer for political reasons. China has refused to approve the Taiwan Beer brand since the name may suggest the nation's sovereignty.
"China has been delaying the application process since March for no reason," Hwang said, adding that he suspects it may have something to do with the presidential election. Hwang urged China to put aside ideology when reviewing its business plan, adding that the brand name is unlikely to change.
"We hope that China can live up to its WTO commitments and grant a fair national treatment," Hwang said.
Vowing to achieve NT$3 earnings per share and a profit goal of NT$10 billion this year, Hwang said the company will soon propose a new privatization plan to the Cabinet as it is sure to fail to meet the deadline next month to initiate its government-backed privatization plan. He said that next Tuesday the company's board will finalize the privatization plan, which proposes to release the company's 350,000 shares to the open market as soon as next year.
"Once the Cabinet gives its go-ahead, the initial public offering will take another 10 months to prepare," Hwang said.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
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