ECONOMY
M1B money supply rises
The annual growth of M1B money supply last month reached its highest level in more than three years, mainly due to a significant increase in bank loans and investments on the back of stronger demand for funds during the Lunar New Year holiday, the central bank said yesterday. The M1B, a narrow measure of money in circulation, including currency and passbook savings deposits, rose 9.93 percent from a year ago, the central bank said. The broader M2 measurement — which includes M1B, time deposits, foreign currency deposits and mutual funds — increased 5.97 percent last month compared with the same period last year, the report said. After adjusting for seasonal factors, the annual growth rates of M1B and M2 were 8.83 percent and 5.77 percent respectively, data showed.
MANUFACTURING
Uni-President builds plant
Food maker Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業) officially began the second phase of construction yesterday on its new production plant in Hsinchu County, which the company said would bring NT$10 billion (US$329.6 million) in revenue and create more than 1,000 jobs. At the facility’s second ground breaking, Uni-President chairman Alex Lo (羅智先) said the first phase of construction on the plant in Hukou Township (湖口) would be finished by next month. The second phase is expected to be finished by late next year, Lo added.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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