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Formosa Plastics ruling expected before March 22

The Ministry of Economic Affairs is expected to reach a decision before the presidential election on whether to ease the ban on Formosa Plastics Corp's (台塑) plans to build a stainless steel plant in Zhangzhou, China, local media reported yesterday.

The ministry's Investment Commission will convene meetings before the end of this month to review Formosa Plastics' plan for a US$100 million steel plant in China, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported yesterday, without citing sources.

A decision will be reached before the presidential election on March 22, the report added.

After announcing plans to invest in large steel refining plants in Taiwan, Formosa Plastics decided to also invest in China. The company's board of directors approved plans to invest in Zhangzhou in August last year and applied for approval from the economics ministry.

Formosa Plastics and Formosa Heavy Industries Corp (台塑重工) will each contribute US$50 million to the investment, the report said.

The ministry invited Formosa Plastics to discuss its global strategy after it applied for permission to invest in China in October last year. Formosa Plastics told the ministry that it planned to invest NT$700 billion (US$21.6 billion) in Taiwan in the next five years, an amount far greater than it plans to invest in China.

According to Formosa Plastics financial reports, its Chinese investments total US$4.3 billion, or 25.45 percent of its 40 percent investment cap.

The economics ministry tentatively agreed that the Zhangzhou steel plant would be able to go ahead, local media reported.
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