Phone makers eye `bad year'
Domestic mobile phone contract makers are expected to have a lukewarm year as international handset vendors are reducing outsourcing production amid stagnant demand, the researcher Market Intelligence Center (市場情報中心) said yesterday.
To boost profitability in a market losing growth momentum, big players including Nokia Ojy and Motorola Inc, are tending to make more middle-and high-end cellphones in house, MIC analyst Feng Lin (林育烽) said.
What's worse, growing competition from electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies, such as Singapore-based Flextronics International, and Chinese handset makers are growing to compete with local firms for orders from global handset vendors, Lin said.
Local companies are expected to ship 63.6 million units this year, up 22 percent from 52 million last year, according to the MIC.
CPC offers sweet oil tender
Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC, 中油) plans to buy so-called sweet or low-sulfur crude oil and condensate for loading in March, according to offer documents sent to potential suppliers.
Crude oil with a sulfur content of less than 0.5 percent by weight, known as sweet crude oil, is more expensive than grades that contain more sulfur because refiners need to remove the pollutants.
NT dollar slides
The New Taiwan dollar moved down against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, losing NT$0.013 to close at NT$31.894.
A total of US$526 million changed hands.
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