Business Briefs

■ Chunghwa budgets for cuts
Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) has set aside NT$80 billion (US$2.5 billion) in personnel charges for cutbacks to its workforce through early retirement, the company's human resource division said. It aims to cut 5,000 employees and hire 2,000 new staff in the next two to four years to improve the company's efficiency. The reshuffle will trim Chunghwa Telecom's workforce to 25,000, from 28,000 at present. About 800 Chunghwa Telecom employees took up the offer of early retirement and left the company yesterday, after the government this week raised US$3 billion from selling a 17-percent stake in Chunghwa Telecom to local and overseas investors, achieving its goal of privatizing the nation's biggest telephone services provider.

■ Oil imports up 3.7 percent
Taiwan, Asia's sixth-biggest economy, increased imports of crude oil by 3.7 percent in the first half of the year because of higher demand from refiners such as Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化). The nation bought 185 million barrels of crude oil from overseas in the January-June period, the Bureau of Energy said in an e-mail yesterday. Oil refiners "actively expanded in overseas markets and in turn, processed more crude oil," the bureau said. Formosa Petrochemical and state-owned rival Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) sell some of their products overseas because output exceeds domestic demand. Increased competition has limited refiners' ability to raise fuel prices in Taiwan. The two refiners processed 29.99 million kiloliters (189 million barrels) of crude oil in the first six months of the year, while the nation used 23.06 million kiloliters of petroleum products during the period.

■ Competition raises concern
The magnetism of the fast-growing Chinese market will put Taiwan at greater risk and the country will face fiercer competition from South Korea and Singapore, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) said yesterday. Chen said at a seminar Taiwan's economic development has encountered huge challenges due to the long-term diplomatic isolation that has deprived the country of many trade and investment opportunities overseas. In addition, he said, a more competitive attitude in Singapore and South Korea, coupled with Taiwan's growing over-reliance on the Chinese market, have put the nation in an even more difficult situation. Looking to the future, an appreciating New Taiwan dollar and skyrocketing oil prices are major uncertainties affecting the domestic economy, he said, adding that to achieve sustainable growth, the government attaches equal importance to hi-tech and traditional businesses and will continue to improve infrastructure to help companies keep growing both at home and abroad.

■ Best Denki wants to expand
The Japanese electrical goods giant Best Denki yesterday confirmed it has earmarked millions of dollars for overseas expansion in Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. The company hopes to expand in all countries in which it operates, and to also move into new markets, said Nobuchika Izawa, director of Best Denki's overseas division. Business Times reported S$7 million (US$4.2 million) will be invested in Singapore; Indonesia and Taiwan are to receive S$5 million each, and S$2 million is being set aside for Malaysia.

■ NT dollar keep rising
The New Taiwan dollar continued to gain ground against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.024 to close at NT$31.905 on the Taipei foreign exchange market yesterday. Turnover was US$753 million, up from US$748 million the previous day.