Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥), the nation’s leading cement maker, yesterday said it is to launch a new “green” energy development project by the end of this year, as part of its long-term business strategy to drive growth momentum.
“As well as our core [cement] business, we hope that the new project would contribute to the company’s operations over the next three to five years,” company chairman Nelson Chang (張安平) told reporters after the firm’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taipei.
The firm is particularly interested in wind power, solar energy and geothermal energy, he said, but declined to elaborate.
“We are still assessing the possibility of forming a joint venture for the project, but we must develop our own technologies first,” Chang said, adding that the firm would establish a team of experts from its subsidiary Ho-Ping Power Co (和平電廠).
The chairman yesterday also expressed concerns over the outlook for the local cement industry, saying that Taiwan should strike a balance between the interests of the industry and environmental protection.
Commenting on possible amendments to the Mining Act (礦業法), Chang said that the proposal is “very good” and that the firm’s three quarries have all conducted the required environmental impact assessments.
Amendments to the act would require that all approved mining projects without an assessment pass a supplementary assessment, the Cabinet has said.
Asked if the nation should rely entirely on cement imports, Chang said that the carbon footprint of cement imports must be much more significant than that of cement produced in Taiwan, citing more transportation requirements.
The 70-year-old cement maker has been working on the research and development of carbon capture techniques with the Industrial Technology Research Institute for years in an effort to promote a circular economy and to seek business opportunities.
The technology, which was initially invented to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, can also be used to produce astaxanthin, a key ingredient in high-priced skincare products, company data showed.
Taiwan Cement said it would not begin commercial production of astaxanthin anytime soon, without providing a timetable.
In related news, Taiwan Cement said its ongoing privatization project — which aims to delist one of its major subsidiaries from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange — is expected to complete in August at the earliest.
Incorporated in the Cayman Islands, TCC International Holdings Ltd (TCCI, 台泥國際集團) has cement operations in several southern Chinese provinces.
The proposal, approved by the Investment Commission on Tuesday, still requires approvals from the Hong Kong Exchange and the Cayman Islands Judicial Administration, TCCI managing director Jason Koo (辜公怡) told reporters yesterday.
If the acquisition plan is completed, TCCI would become a fully owned unit of Taiwan Cement and contribute more profit to its parent company, he said.
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
RSS