Nation to host global realtors
Taiwan has won the bid to host the annual conference of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) next year, which will bring together property industry leaders from around the world to chart new industry developments.
Huang Nan-yuan (黃南淵), head of the Taiwan branch of the International Real Estate Federation, announced yesterday that the nation had won the right to host next year’s FIABCI World Congress, at which the FIABCI Prix d’Excellence Awards are also presented.
Huang, who also heads the Real Estate Association of the Republic of China, said the association is encouraging public and private projects to compete for an award. The project categories include urban planning, environmental rehabilitation and conservation, and urban renewal, he said.
UBS not laying off staff
UBS Taiwan said yesterday that it would not be trimming its workforce, as the European debt crisis does not affect its core businesses.
“We expect revenue and profit to expand this year after making significant improvement last year,” T.C. Lee (李天成), head of the bank’s Taipei branch, told a media briefing. Lee declined to give detailed numbers ahead of the disclosure of the bank’s financial results by its parent firm.
The Taipei branch hires 300 employees devoted to private banking, and wealth and asset management services. It plans to add 15 relationships managers this year to strengthen its private banking business.
Cracker to start this year: CPC
State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) plans to start a naphtha cracker at its Greater Kaohsiung facility by the end of the year, a company official said, declining to be identified because of company policy.
The plant, with the capacity to produce 600,000 tonnes of ethylene a year, is currently under construction, the official said.
On Tuesday, Central News Agency, citing Minster of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥), reported that the government may allow domestic companies to invest in naphtha crackers in China provided they have management control.
Exports to ASEAN soar
Exports to six members of ASEAN surged to a record 16.5 percent of total outbound shipments last year, while those to China dropped 1.6 percentage points to 40.2 percent, government statistics showed yesterday.
The six ASEAN states are Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Singapore accounted for half of the US$9.38 billion export value to ASEAN last year and Vietnam the second-highest amount, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said.
The total value of the nation’s exports last year stood at US$308.3 billion, up 12.3 percentage points from a year earlier, data showed. Shipments to the US accounted for 11.8 percent, an increase of 0.3 percentage points. Japan took a 5.9 percent share and the EU 9.3 percent, which represented decreases of 0.7 percentage points and 0.6 percentage points respectively.
NT dollar edges higher
The New Taiwan dollar strengthened and government bonds were little changed before the week-long Lunar New Year holiday that starts on Monday.
The NT dollar rose 0.1 percent to NT$29.978 against its US counterpart, according to Taipei Forex Inc. Turnover totaled US$836 million during the trading session.
The yield on 1.25 percent notes due to mature in September 2021 was steady at 1.285 percent, according to the GRETAI Securities Market.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last