■ Soaring oil a hindrance
The continued rise of international crude oil prices is poised to negatively impact Taiwan's economy, as 99 percent of the nation's oil supplies are imported, a Council of Economic Planning and Development official said Wednesday. Hung Juei-pin (洪瑞彬), director of the council's Economic Research Department, made the remarks in a report on the country's economic situation in the first half of the year. The council predicted in May that the economy might grow by 3.07 percent and more than 4 percent in the first and second half of this year with the growth for the whole year expected to register 3.63 percent. Considering the nation's heavy dependence on oil imports, Hung urged other government agencies to draw up strategies to ensure that the country has a stable oil supply in the long run and strengthen the implementation of its energy-saving policies.
■ China now a key farm market
China and Hong Kong together imported farm products worth US$440 million from Taiwan in the first half of this year, making them the nation's second-largest farm export market, according to the latest government tallies. he statistics released on Tuesday by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) show that the figure marks an impressive annual growth rate of 7.9 percent. Japan was the top importer of Taiwan's agricultural goods in the same six-month period, purchasing US$620 million worth of farm produce, reflecting a 0.7 percent increase rate year on year. The US was the third with a value of US$180 million, a 1.6 percent expansion on an annual basis. The US exported the highest value of farm products, worth US$1.48 billion, to this country in the first six months, ahead of Australia and Japan in second place, each of which sold US$350 million worth of farm produce. Taiwan's farm trade totaled US$6.52 billion in the first half of this year, growing by 4.3 percent compared to the previous year's level. Exports and imports hit US$1.79 billion and US$4.73 billion, respectively, up by 5.2 percent and down by 3.9 percent, respectively, from the previous year's level.
■ Locals hurt by UK firm's demise
Computer-motherboard contract makers for PC brands Tiny and Time Computer are expected to suffer severely following the collapse of the UK's largest PC retailing group, Granville Technology, the DigiTimes reported on its Web site yesterday, citing sources. Companies that are expected to see negative impacts include Micro-Star International (微星), Albatron Technology (青雲科技) and Hon Hai Precision Industry (鴻海精密), as well as notebook computer suppliers like Arima Computer (華宇) and First International Computer (大眾), DigiTimes reported. The damage is still under estimation but DigiTimes said some of the companies may incur over US$1 million in accounts receivables due from Granville. According to the sources, Granville's financial troubles began three years ago and some companies began reducing shipments from that time, although only a few terminated supply contracts.
■ NT dollar dips
The New Taiwan dollar fell against its US counterpart yesterday, declining NT$0.049 to close at NT$31.893 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$708 million, unchanged from Tuesday's level. "Higher oil prices may curb the Taiwan dollar's gains" in the past two days, said Gary Huang, a trader in Taipei at Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行). Crude oil topped US$62 a barrel on supply worries yesterday.
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