■ Forex numbers rise
Last month saw the second-largest monthly foreign-exchange export figure of US$17.63 billion, up 25.9 percent year-on-year, and a record monthly foreign-exchange import figure of US$16.99 billion, up 37.5 percent from a year ago, which has led to a surplus of US$642 million over that period, the central bank said yesterday. The international economic re-bound, Taiwan's robust trade, growing imports of agricultural and industrial raw materials and electronic component parts, soaring crude oil prices and quarterly earnings reports all contributed to the big leap in foreign exchange proceeds and payments, said Hsu Chung-yi (許忠義), deputy director-general of the bank's foreign exchange department. Foreign exchange exports reached US$147.12 billion between January and last month, a 26.5 percent increase from a year ago, while accumulated foreign exchange imports amounted to US$136.52 billion over the same period, a 31.5 percent jump year-on-year, resulting in a surplus of US$10.6 billion, the central bank said.
■ EVA raises cargo fares
EVA Airways Corp (長榮), the nation's second-largest air carrier, said it will raise charges for flying cargo to the US, as demand for air transport increases amid expanding trade between Asia and North America. "All the cargo flights going to the US from Taiwan are full," EVA Airways spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維) said. He declined to say how much the rise would be. "We'll adjust fares according to market supply and demand," he said.
EVA and its larger competitor, China Airlines (華航), are benefiting from increased exports before the Christmas shopping season. The nation's exports last month increased 19 percent from a year earlier to US$15 billion after climbing 20 percent in August, the government said last week.
■ Chip equipment selling well
Global sales of chipmaking equipment rose 70 percent in August from a year earlier, the smallest gain in five months, two industry groups said in a release. Sales rose to US$2.48 billion from US$1.46 billion in the same month a year earlier, according to preliminary figures released in Tokyo by the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan and the San Jose, California-based Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International. Sales have increased for 13 straight months from year-earlier levels. They have slowed in the past four months. Sales of chipmaking equipment in August were led by Taiwan and South Korea, which saw figures more than double. Sales in Japan, North America and Europe also gained.
■ CSBC making a profit again
The state-owned China Shipbuild-ing Corp (CSBC, 中船) registered profits worth NT$470 million (US$13.9 million) in the first nine months of this year, far exceeding the annual profit target of NT$320 million, CSBC figures showed. CSBC officials attributed the gain to the recovering marine transport market and to the success of the company's revival plan, which began at the end of 2001. Under the plan, CSBC laid off more than 2,000 employees, cut salaries of the remaining workers by an average of 35 percent and streamlined its structure. The officials said orders are now booked until April 2008, with more than 40 ships worth NT$50 billion. CSBC's target is to deliver 14 ships this year.
■ NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan dollar traded lower yesterday against its US counterpart, falling NT$0.051 to close at NT$33.878 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$420 million.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained