Trade flows rise in January
Taiwan's foreign trade amounted to US$24.9 billion in January, leaving a surplus of US$1.67 billion, according to statistics released yesterday by the Central Bank of China.
Taiwan earned US$13.29 billion from its exports in January, an increase of 17.1 percent over the same period a year ago, while it spent US$11.61 billion on imports, up 27.9 percent on a year-to-year basis, the statistics showed.
Bank officials attributed the increase in trade to the world economic recovery and the rise in seasonal domestic demand prior to the Lunar New Year holiday that fell on Feb. 1 this year.
Water price-rise considered
The Water Resource Agency is expected to present a proposal to the Ministry of Economic Affairs in June about increasing the price of water during the summer, according to Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢), deputy director of the agency.
The hike -- an increase of between 20 percent and 40 percent -- would reflect the high demand for water from May to November each year, Chen said yesterday.
Chen did not say when the proposal would be implemented. But he said that the agency would submit the proposal to the Executive Yuan for further discussion at the end of June.
Cap on milkfish urged
The Council of Agriculture yesterday urged that annual domestic production of milkfish should not exceed 40,000 tonnes in order to maintain reasonable prices and profits.
Officials of the council's Fisheries Administration stressed that the domestic market for milkfish is limited, estimating it to be about 35,000 tonnes per year.
Exports of milkfish, which contain many small bones, mainly target Asian people, and exports are only about 10,000 tonnes annually, the council said.
With the country's entry into the WTO last year, Southeast Asian countries are expected to ship more low-cost milkfish to Taiwan, the council said.
EVA ranks first
EVA Airways Corp (長榮) was ranked first in operations and service in an assessment conducted among the country's air carriers last year, the Civil Aero-nautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday.
The CAA conducted the assessment based mainly on flight safety and service to passengers. Two carriers -- China Airlines Co (華航) and TransAsia Airways (復興) -- were not included for assessment because of crashes.
CAA said EVA Airways and UNI Airways (立榮) were better than others in terms of flight safety, while EVA Airways and Far East Air Transport Corp (遠東) received higher marks.
Guangzhou investments rising
More than 2,000 Taiwanese firms have invested up to US$6.4 billion in Guangzhou, despite restrictions by Taiwanese authorities on investments in China, a report said yesterday.
The Chinese city approved US$1 billion for 118 projects invested by Taiwanese businesspeople last year, with accumulated Taiwanese investments amounting to US$6.4 billion so far, the Central News Agency reported.
The agency quoted Guangzhou Vice Mayor Su Zequan (蘇澤群) as saying the city alone has 2,144 Taiwanese-invested businesses, making it one of that nation's major investment areas for Taiwanese firms.
NT dollar weakens
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, dropping NT$0.016 to close at NT$34.804 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$397 million, compared with the previous day's US$425 million.
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