Taiwan Styrene Monomer Corp (台苯), which makes styrene monomer, yesterday said that because of declining prices it would post higher losses this quarter than losses of NT$92.98 million (US$2.93 million) last quarter.
“Plummeting oil prices led to a widespread decline in prices for all petrochemical products. However [selling] prices of our product fell deeper than our material costs, as demand in China shrank,” company chairman Lin Wen-yuan (林文淵) told reporters.
Lin said lower demand resulted from the Chinese government’s efforts to curb luxury spending and cool the housing market.
He said that oversupply would improve in China probably in March or April next year if Beijing proposes new measures to stimulate its economy, Lin said.
“The global petrochemical industry is largely affected by policy changes in China, and the nation is also the largest market for most Taiwanese companies in the industry,” Lin said.
Due to declining oil prices, the company also booked losses resulted from declining inventory prices this quarter, Lin added.
This quarter would be the second consecutive quarter for the company to register a loss, Lin said.
From January through last month, Taiwan Styrene Monomer reported profit of NT$231.85 million, or NT$0.47 per share, down 70.67 percent from NT$790.39 million, or NT$1.5 per share, the previous year, because demand in China was better last year, Lin said.
Lin said oil prices next year would not be lower than the US$50 to US$60 per barrel seen toward the end of this year.
Lin said costs for oil companies in Russia are higher than US$60 per barrel as oil sources in Russia are far from harbors, and although oil companies in Saudi Arabia are still profitable with current prices because of lower manufacturing costs, companies in other nations are not.
Lin estimated that the low oil prices might not last for a year.
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
H200 CHIPS: A source said that Nvidia has asked the Taiwanese company to begin production of additional chips and work is expected to start in the second quarter Nvidia Corp is scrambling to meet demand for its H200 artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Chinese technology companies and has approached contract manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to ramp up production, sources said. Chinese technology companies have placed orders for more than 2 million H200 chips for this year, while Nvidia holds just 700,000 units in stock, two of the people said. The exact additional volume Nvidia intends to order from TSMC remains unclear, they said. A third source said that Nvidia has asked TSMC to begin production of the additional chips and work is expected to start in the second
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
RSS