Banks give THSRC an extension
The bank consortium lending to the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) yesterday agreed to continue allocating loans to the company for the construction of the nation's first high-speed railway, if THSRC can raise NT$7.5 billion by the end of March, an associate manager of Chiao Tung Bank (交通銀行) -- which leads the consortium -- told reporters after meeting with officials from THSRC's creditors.
THSRC was supposed to raise that sum by the end of last year in order to get loans from the banks, but it only secured NT$1.5 billion. The banks agreed at yesterday's meeting to give THSRC a three-month extension, the official said.
But THSRC's financial crisis is not resolved yet, as it still needs to conduct fundraising to collect a total NT$31 billion by the end of the year to maintain operations, said Arthur Chiang (江金山), vice president of THSRC's public affairs.
Cross-strait trade booms
Trade volume between Taiwan and China amounted to US$56.19 billion in November last year, a 34.8 percent increase from a year ago, according to statistics released by the Bureau of Foreign Trade yesterday.
The amount accounts for 18.1 percent of total trade volume, up by 1 percent from the previous year.
During the period of time, local companies exported goods worth US$41.23 billion to China, a 29.2 percent jump from a year ago, while Chinese exporters shipped goods worth US$14.96 billion to Taiwan.
Due to China's continuation of its macroeconomic control policy, and rising oil prices and interest rates, the bureau predicts that the growth of exports to China will turn slow this year.
China Steel's profits surge
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation's largest steelmaker, had a 57 percent surge in fourth-quarter profit after the company increased prices on rising demand.
Net income rose to NT$14.7 billion (US$462 million) from NT$9.33 billion a year earlier. The figure was derived by subtracting nine-month from full-year earnings posted by the company today. Sales rose 40 percent to NT$46.9 billion.
China Steel has raised prices each quarter since mid-2002 amid demand from China for steel to make cars, electronics and building projects. China Steel sells more than a third of exports to China and generates a quarter of sales from overseas.
For last year, China Steel's profit climbed to NT$51.6 billion, or NT$5.26 a share.
China investments approved
Taiwan has approved eight applications for China-bound investment totaling US$164.22 million, the official Investment Commission said.
The commission also approved six inbound investment applications by foreign investors and overseas Chinese for a total of US$74.68 million, it said in a statement late Thursday.
Of the applications for China-bound investment, electronics contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) was given approval to invest US$17.5 million dollars and Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機) US$12 million.
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑集團) was authorized to invest US$32 million in a unit in Ningbo in Zhejiang province.
China has replaced the US as Taiwan's largest market since November 2002, despite mounting political tensions between them.
NT dollar up
The New Taiwan dollar advanced against the greenback on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, gaining NT$0.061 to close at NT$31.802.
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