■ Energy use increases
Energy consumption rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier in May as manufacturers used more power. Taiwan burned the equivalent of 9.07 million kiloliters (57 million barrels) of oil in May, with manufacturers and other industrial companies accounting for 58 percent of consumption, Wei Juen-shen (韋潤生), a Bureau of Energy planning official, said yesterday. Some manufacturers, such as steel companies, used more energy as their sales increased. The metal and mechanical industry's production rose 3 percent in May, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on June 23. "The industrial sector used quite a lot of electricity," Wei said. Industrial companies consumed 6.5 percent more electricity than a year earlier, while their overall energy use climbed 3.5 percent in May. The nation used 18 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in May, 7.7 percent more than the same month last year, Wei said. Taiwan bought 98 percent of its energy needs from overseas. Crude oil imports totaled 5.07 million kiloliters in May, down 6 percent from a year earlier, Wei said.
■ EU steel group upset
An EU steel group may seek EU "anti-dumping" duties on two stainless-steel products from India and Taiwan to protect manufacturers including Arcelor SA. The European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries plans to accuse Indian exporters of cold finished bars and Taiwanese shippers of wire rods of selling at unfairly low prices in the EU. The automobile and chemicals industries, among others, use the products. "The situation seems to be serious," Christian Mari, a spokesman at the Brussels-based steel confederation, said yesterday. ``We are preparing a possible complaint.'' The group, known as Eurofer, will decide within weeks whether to complain to the European Commission, according to Mari. Luxembourg-based Arcelor, the world's largest stainless steel maker, makes the two products concerned, he said. The commission would have to decide whether to open a dumping probe that could last as long as nine months and lead to anti-dumping duties.
■ Investor confidence rises
Investors appeared to be more bullish than before with a investor confidence index slightly rebounding to 106 points this month from 105.6 points in May, according to a report released yesterday by JF Asset Management Taiwan, part of JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management. JF Asset Management attributed the optimism to a rebound of stock market worldwide in the last two months and an expectedly rosy outlook for the tech sector in the second half of this year. The ratio of the investors who actually reaped profits from their portfolios in the past one year rose to 43.1 percent, up from 30.6 percent a year ago, while the ratio of people who plan to cut investment spending dropped to 18.6 percent from 27.9 percent in the meantime, the company said.
■ NT dollar gains ground
The New Taiwan dollar turned strong against its US counterpart yesterday, advancing NT$0.131 to close at NT$31.984 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$619 million, down from US$724 million last Friday. The currency was supported by inflows of foreign funds into the nation's stock market and the weaker-than-expected US employment data released on Friday that pressured the greenback, dealers said. Foreign institutional investors bought a net NT$6.07 billion (US$190 million) of Taiwan's stocks yesterday, according to Taiwan Stock Exchange data.
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