Business Briefs

■ SEF sets up service center
The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) will set up a new service center to strengthen services for Taiwanese businessmen operating in China no later than Aug. 31, its chairman, Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), said yesterday. Soon after the establishment of the service center, Chang said, the foundation will come up with a comprehensive package of measures to improve and expand services for China-bound Taiwanese businesspeople. Chang said he expects the center to expand its operations to China "someday" to provide direct services to businesspeople operating there.

■ Fuel prices hurt CAL's Q2
China Airlines (CAL, 華航) turned to a loss in the second quarter as the price of jet fuel surged and operating costs increased. The carrier cut its profit forecast for the year by 30 percent to NT$3.08 billion (US$96 million) compared with NT$4.4 billion projected in January, it said in a statement. CAL had a loss of NT$124.1 million, compared with a profit of NT$531.8 million last year, based on Bloomberg's calculation of the airline's first-half results reported yesterday. Sales for the quarter rose 16 percent to NT$25.7 billion. The price of jet fuel surged 43 percent in the first half this year. China Airlines' first-half profit fell 43 percent to NT$694.8 million while sales rose 14 percent to NT$49.8 million, the carrier said. Operating cost increased 16 percent to NT$41.3 billion, it said. The airlines' shares fell for a second day yesterday, dropping 0.6 percent to a 10-day low of NT$16.05 before its results were announced.

■ Fruit fair to open at TWTC
A trade fair to promote exports of domestic fruit will open tomorrow at the Taipei World Trade Center under the sponsorship of the Council of Agriculture (COA) and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會). Fruit growers and suppliers from 21 counties and cities will display a wide range of summer fruits. A COA spokesman said the exhibition is intended to help fruit growers and suppliers establish long-standing relationships with major foreign importers. He said a total of 101 one-on-one meetings have been arranged between suppliers and potential customers. Among the foreign import companies invited to send representatives to the show are the Union Co in Tokyo, which bought US$300.7 million-worth of fruit last year; Jinwon Trading Co of South Korea, whose fruit sales reached US$18 million last year and China Resources Vanguard Co in Hong Kong, which sold US$2.96 billion-worth of fruit last year, the TAITRA spokesman said.

■ HannStar wins Casio order
HannStar Display Corp (瀚宇彩晶), the nation's fifth-largest maker of flat panel displays, has won orders to produce flat-panel displays used in mobile phones from Japan's Casio Computer Co, a Chinese-language business newspaper reported yesterday, citing HannStar president Chou Ding-hui (周定輝). The two companies will jointly develop small-sized flat panels used in third-generation mobile phones, the paper said. HannStar plans to start shipments for Casio from the first quarter of next year and it is expected to ship up to 20,000 panels a month, the paper said.

■ NT dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar declined against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, losing NT$0.074 to close at NT$32.066. A total of US$1 billion changed hands during the day's trading.