Machine tool manufacturer Quaser Machine Tools Inc (百德機械) has tightened its sales growth outlook this year, citing unfavorable foreign exchange rates.
The Taichung-based company now expects sales to be flat from last year’s NT$1.9 billion (US$61.1 million), Quaser president Rock Liao (廖子恩) said on Tuesday.
The company had previously forecast a 5 percent annual growth in sales to NT$2 billion this year.
Market researcher Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK) predicted that Taiwan’s machine tool industry would increase production value by 1.3 percent annually to NT$152.9 billion this year on the back of rising demand for aerospace, transportation, intelligent manufacturing and automation systems.
“We are seeing good order visibility to August, which will help grow our unit shipments. However, a weak euro is likely to wipe out growth,” Liao said.
RISING TREND
Demand is rising because of improving economic conditions in Europe and more firms moving production back to the US, he said.
Quaser, which has NT$352.5 million in capital and operates a factory in central Taiwan, plans to build a new plant in Taichung. The company has offices in China’s Kunsan and in Switzerland, Liao said.
Most of Quaser’s products are exported to Europe, making the region the biggest source of revenue, accounting for 60 percent, Liao said.
The US and China come next, with 12 percent and 11 percent revenue contribution respectively, he added.
Liao said depreciation in the euro and yen are eroding Quaser’s revenue, as unfavorable foreign exchange rates are hurting Taiwanese companies’ competitiveness in the global market.
Taiwan is the world’s No. 4 machine tool exporter, after South Korea, Japan and Europe, according to market observers.
Liao said that if the New Taiwan dollar were to drop to NT$33 versus the US currency, local machine tool manufacturers would be better able to compete with foreign rivals. That would mean a 5.72 percent depreciation from NT$31.113 against the greenback yesterday.
IPO
Separately, Quaser plans to apply for an initial public offering (IPO) in Taiwan and will use the IPO proceeds for capacity expansion and research and development, Liao said.
He said the company is set to go public in September and list its shares domestically by the end of next year.
Local rival Fair Friend Group (友嘉集團) also plans to launch an IPO next year. Fair Friend operates 42 factories around the world.
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
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
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