Laplanche urges cooperation
Total EU-Taiwan trade will likely fall for this year as a whole and that should make the two sides work even harder to facilitate trade and remove barriers, European Economic and Trade Office head Frederic Laplanche said yesterday.
Laplanche made the remark during his opening speech at a one-day EU-Taiwan trade expo in Taipei, which aimed to generate more than US$80 million in new business, he said.
In the first nine months of the year, Taiwan’s exports to the EU fell by 10 percent year-on-year, according to the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會), which organized the event.
The EU is currently Taiwan’s fourth-largest trading partner, after China, Japan and the US, it said.
DGBAS to study milk vouchers
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics yesterday said it would study the feasibility of distributing “milk vouchers” to economically vulnerable families with babies, after a lawmaker proposed the measure as a way to help ease poor households’ financial burdens.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said at a legislative question-and-answer session that the government could consider launching a voucher scheme for milk by providing cash subsidies to economically vulnerable families with a baby younger than two years old.
She estimated the government might have to spend NT$500 million (US$17.04 million) implementing such a scheme.
Wistron says not downsizing
Wistron Corp (緯創), the world’s third-biggest contract notebook maker, yesterday said it had no plans to lay off any of its employees this year, amid concerns that large-scale workforce reductions will take place in the industry.
Wistron’s announcement came after its larger rival Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) reported to Taipei’s Department of Labor on Friday last week that it would let 158 workers go next month as the result of lower-than-expected market demand.
Meanwhile, HannsTouch Solution Inc (和鑫), which specializes in research, development, production and sale of touch-panel products, said the same day it would lay off between 100 and 200 workers, as it has replaced product lines with automated machine tools.
TransAsia expands fleet
TransAsia Airways Corp (復興航空) said on Tuesday it would take delivery of its first A330-300 plane on Nov. 26 as part of efforts to expand its fleet.
The carrier said it would take delivery of another 300-seat A330-300 aircraft in January next year, adding that the two mid-range, wide-body planes are likely to serve the Singapore or Osaka routes.
The company will also take delivery of 18 A321-200 and A321-neo planes from next year, with 12 ATR72-600 aircraft to follow.
Takaoka opens new plant
Takaoka Electric Manufacturing Co on Tuesday held an opening ceremony for its Taiwanese subsidiary and announced its newly rented local plant will begin operations next month.
The Japanese company rented a semiconductor packaging and testing facility in Greater Taichung in March.
The company’s local subsidiary has a capital of NT$19 million.
It currently cooperates with Nanya Printed Circuit Board Corp (南亞電路板) in packaging and testing services.
NT drops against greenback
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.014 to close at NT$29.342.
Turnover totaled about US$466 million during the trading session.
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
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