TAITRA portal sparks interest
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) said yesterday that since the 2009 Sourcing Taiwan Web portal was launched to attract export opportunities for local manufacturers, it had received inquiries from more than 750 local export companies requesting 4,916 individual appointments.
A TAITRA sourcing conference mandated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs has been scheduled for March 30 through April 2. On Sunday, TAITRA said that more than 62 countries, 566 companies and 685 foreign guests had been invited to participate, with companies with capitalization in excess of US$100 million accounting for half of the invitees.
No subsidies for LCD TVs
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday denied local media reports that it is planning to provide NT$2,000 (US$57.56) subsidies to individuals who purchase liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions, saying it had not had any discussions nor conducted any studies on the idea.
The ministry also denied that it had been authorized by the Executive Yuan to design a plan for the government to subsidize domestic purchases of LCD television sets.
It said in a press release that the subsidy proposal had been raised by entrepreneurs at a breakfast meeting on Monday between top government officials and industry leaders.
“Vice Premier Paul Chiu (邱正雄) agreed only to consider and evaluate the issue,” the ministry said.
As for encouraging the public to replace analog TVs with digital LCD sets, the ministry said agencies are still discussing the idea.
Valin to buy Fortescue stake
China’s Hunan Valin Iron and Steel Group (湖南華菱管線) said yesterday it would acquire a 16.5 percent stake in Australian miner Fortescue Metals Ltd for A$1.2 billion (US$776 million).
State-owned Valin agreed to buy 225 million new Fortescue shares at A$2.48 each, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing a company statement.
Officials at the two companies were not immediately available for comment.
The Chinese company also agreed to acquire 275 million existing Fortescue shares from hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, the report said.
Malaysia cuts key interest rate
Malaysia’s central bank cut its key interest rate yesterday for the third time since November as it warned the economy may contract this year.
Bank Negara Malaysia slashed the overnight policy rate — used by commercial banks to set lending rates — by half a percentage point to 2 percent. It also lowered reserve requirements for banks to 1 percent from 2 percent, which will release more funds into the financial system.
“The domestic economic conditions are expected to continue to remain challenging in the coming quarters with the continued deterioration in the global economy,” the central bank said in a statement.
HK to extend blackout period
Hong Kong’s Stock Exchange said yesterday its proposal to toughen restrictions on directors trading shares in their own companies had been approved by the city’s financial watchdog.
The exchange said in a statement that it had received the approval of the Securities and Futures Commission to extend the so-called blackout period preventing directors from trading in their own companies’ shares.
The blackout period will be extended from the current one month to 60 days before the company’s annual results are announced.
The changes will take effect on April 1.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained