Confectioners applauded a proposal by the nation's top economic planning body to more than double the Taiwan's imported sugar quota next year, saying the move will help level the playing field for food producers.
"This is the good news we have been expecting for years. Finally, the price of sugar can gradually be guided by free market mechanisms," said Sunny Chen (
The plan is in accordance with trade deals agreed upon as part of Taiwan's WTO entry and the governments liberalization of a market formerly monopolized by the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar,
On Tuesday, the Cabinet's Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) made the proposal to increase next year's quota on imported, refined sugar from the current 120,000 tones to 300,000 tones.
The government plan calls for gradual market opening through 2004, when the cap is finally eliminated. In addition to the quota on imported sugar, Taiwan also levied a 17.5 percent tariff on the commodity, which, according to the proposal, will be cut to 10 percent in 2004.
The proposal will be sent next to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Finance for further review and later to legislature for final approval.
"If everything proceeds on schedule, enactment will take effect early next year," said an official at the CEPD surnamed Chiu.
According to Sunny Chen, Taiwan consumes about 500,000 tones of sugar annually, of which Taisugar controls on average more than 80 percent.
The monopoly on prices has hampered the confection industry's development, he said.
"Compared to imported sugar -- priced as low as NT$10 per kilogram -- NT$15 per kilogram from Taisugar is quite unreasonable," Chen added.
As an increasing number of foreign-made snacks and beverages are imported, local players are keen to cut costs and improve their competitive edge.
"The change will likely cut our annual expenditures on sugar by nearly NT$100 million," said Jean-Yves Yao (姚力仁), a UNI-President Enterprises Corp (統一) spokesman.
The firm uses about 20,000 tonnes of sugar every year.
According to Chen, consumer's with a sweet tooth will also benefit from the plan.
"When we convert the sugar cost savings for each finished product, the difference averages to less than a dollar per unit," UNI-President's Yao explained.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
RSS