The nation’s electrical engineering and machinery industry could consider Southeast Asia as a market for new demand, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said last week.
Given the region’s stable economic growth, demand from Southeast Asian countries would be more favorable in the long term, TIER senior analyst Wang Chung-ching (王忠慶) told a seminar organized by Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp (台灣證券交易所) on Wednesday.
As demand in Taiwan is unlikely to increase significantly in the near future, manufacturers need to seek new sales drivers in emerging markets while the government could help manufacturers find new buyers via existing channel networks, as many Taiwanese companies have operated in Southeast Asia for years, Wang said.
Taiwan’s exports of machinery equipment dropped 6.9 percent to US$19.4 billion last year from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive year of decline, data compiled by the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械工業同業公會) showed.
Shipments to China and the US, the top two markets for local machinery makers, declined by 12.7 percent and 0.6 percent year-on-year last year respectively, TAMI’s data showed.
China was the destination for about 26 percent of all Taiwanese machinery exports last year, followed by the US, with 17.9 percent, while Southeast Asia accounted for 16.7 percent or US$3.24 billion, the TAMI data showed.
“The machinery industry’s exports have been stagnant since 2011, mainly dragged down by the sluggish demand after the global financial crisis [2008 to 2009],” Wang said, adding that challenges also comes from the supply side.
Local manufacturers face a rising competition from their global peers, such as Germany and China, who have used new technologies to enhance their capabilities.
Germany, which initiated the idea of “Industry 4.0” in 2011, has extended its focus to the computerization of manufacturing process in all its industrial sectors, Wang said.
Foreign exchange fluctuation is another drag on Taiwan’s exports, he said.
The dramatic depreciation of China’s yuan against major global currencies significantly hurt the industry last year, he added.
Local manufacturers should boost their niches in the global market through product differentiation, he said.
“Most machinery companies only provide individual machines or components. They should try to develop total solutions for end-market customers,” he said.
To raise the competitiveness of the nation’s traditional industries, the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders’ Association (台灣工具機暨零組件工業同業公會) has said that it is seeking to cooperate with companies in different fields, including the semiconductor industry, to differentiate their products from those of their rivals.
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. However, the charcoal they were making is known as “green,” and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. “Green charcoal” aims to protect what
RSS