Cheng Loong Corp (正隆紙業), the nation’s biggest industrial papermaker, yesterday provided a positive outlook for its business in the second half of this year, due to rising pulp prices and expected robust demand during upcoming local festivals.
“Global pulp prices are expected to hover at relatively high levels in the near term,” a Cheng Loong official said by telephone, citing company statistics.
International pulp prices have this month reached US$300 per tonne, compared with US$170 per tonne in the same period last year, said the official, who requested anonymity.
Regarding possible future price hikes, the official said that the company’s current product prices do not fully reflect the changes in international prices, but declined to elaborate.
PRICE HIKES
Cheng Loong in March announced that it would increase prices for this year’s shipments by NT$1,500 (US$49.35) per tonne, or nearly 10 percent on average, to cover rising raw material and transportation costs.
The adjustment was the company’s second price increase since December last year, when it announced an increase of NT$1,500 per tonne, or between 12 percent and 15 percent.
Apart from stable prices for raw materials, the firm is also upbeat about demand for paper products in the second half, Cheng Loong said.
The firm expects demand for paper boxes and packaging materials to grow during the Ghost Festival, for which Taiwanese prepare food to worship their ancestors.
CHINA
However, the company is more conservative about its business in China, primarily due to tighter environmental regulations and fierce competition, it said.
Cheng Loong plans to shut down one of its major units in Shanghai by the end of the year, due to rising operating costs to meet stricter environmental standards.
Shanghai Chung Loong Paper Co Ltd (上海中隆紙業) contributed nearly 10 percent of its parent’s total sales last year, Cheng Loong data showed.
Cheng Loong, which operates 12 paper plants in China, said it does not plan to withdraw from the Chinese market.
VIETNAM
However, it is seeking potential business opportunities outside of Taiwan and China, as the 57-year-old company is shifting its focus to Vietnam, where a new paper mill in Binh Duong Province is expected to begin operations in the second quarter of next year, the official said.
The new facility, which is to have an annual capacity of 300,000 tonnes, is part of the company’s efforts to develop a complete supply chain for industrial paper products in Southeast Asia, the official added.
Cheng Loong operates three carton plants in Vietnam, company data showed.
Cheng Loong shares yesterday edged down 0.66 percent to close at NT$15.15 in Taipei trading. The shares have gained more than 20 percent from nearly NT$12 at the end of last year, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS