Uni-President CEO says China ambitions intact

Jason Lin (林蒼生), chief executive officer of Uni-President Group (統一集團), the nation's biggest food manufacturer, yesterday reiterated the company's ambition to increase its investment stake in the Asian market, especially China, despite some obstacles lying ahead.

"The era of Asia has come," Lin said yesterday at a forum on Taiwanese companies' overseas investment strategies. The forum was held by the non-profit Asia Foundation in Taiwan.

Lin said that throughout history, social and economic development have followed a westward direction -- first in India and then in Europe, the US and Japan.

"Now China and Southeast Asia will light up economically. Business potential in China-led Asia must not be ignored," he said.

According to the company, it has seen increased proportions of its revenue coming from China and Southeast Asia -- growing from 34 percent and 4 percent in 2001 to 37 percent and 7 percent last year, respectively.

Although the Asian market is viewed by Uni-President as the world's most attractive and challenging battlefield, given its massive population and growth potential, Lin said that forming joint ventures would be the key to gaining a competitive edge in the market.

In early January, the group announced that it would enter into a 50-50 partnership with Japan's Kirin Beverage Corp to manufacture tea, coffee and health drinks in the Beijing area.

But its latest plan -- to cooperate with China's Shanghai Bright Dairy & Food Co (光明乳業) -- has met with opposition from Bright's business partners in Shanghai, which have claimed that the proposed joint venture would do harm to Bright's shareholders.

When approached by the Taipei Times, Lin refused to disclose any information about the negotiation progress with Bright, only saying, "[The obstruction] is [Bright's] business."

Simon Hung (洪士民), a Uni-President spokesman, last week said that Bright, China's largest dairy producer, is a good partner and that Uni-President is eager to work with the company because it has established an extended retail network in China

Lin said that Uni-President's global positioning remains unchanged and it aims to become one of the world's leading food makers by 2017.

Speaking at the same event, Theodore Huang (黃茂雄), chairman of Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機), said that because China is implementing measures to cool down its economy, and because of high energy consumption and power shortages, events in China would directly affect the world's economy.

Teco is Taiwan's largest maker of heavy-duty electric motors and the No. 3 supplier of industrial motors in the world, with a 5-percent share of the global market.

In order to reduce investment risk and to take advantage of cheaper labor outside Taiwan, Teco has started assembling its products in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone of the Philippines before transporting them back to Taiwan or exporting them to Southeast Asia, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.

Teco is also planning to team up with a Japanese partner this month, who will become the sales agent for Teco's electric motors, home appliances and information technology hardware products in the Middle East market, the report said.