Cargo rate hike plan changed
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) said yesterday it will raise its cargo rates for European routes by 15 percent instead of the previously announced increase of 45 to 50 percent, effective from Friday.
"We have adjusted the scale of the rate increase after negotiations [with freight-forwarders]," company senior vice-president Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維) said.
As for the carrier's US routes, it will raise cargo fares by 10 percent, he said, adding he is not aware of when the new charges will take effect.
The company had earlier said it had made no decision on price hikes for US-bound cargo shipments.
China Airlines Co (華航) announced Monday that it was raising the cost of cargo to Europe by 20 percent and the US by 10 percent in reflection of rising market demand.
Freight forwarders said cargo capacity to Europe may be reduced by 15 percent because of war-related flight cuts and diversions, leading to higher rates.
Nation's oil sources diverse
Iraq was the country's third-largest oil provider last year after Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, according to customs statistics.
Taiwan imported NT$27 billion worth of crude oil from Iraq last year, while imports from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia swelled to NT$35.8 billion and NT$55 billion, respectively. Imports from Iran ranked fourth with NT$23.2 billion.
The nation has been trying to diversify its oil resources in recent years by increasing imports from countries in West Africa like Angola and the Congo, in addition to Russia, the Philippines and Malaysia. Its inbound oil shipments from the Middle East have dropped to 67 percent of the total.
A total of NT$233.5 billion (US$6.49 billion) worth of oil last year was imported into the country, accounting for 6 percent of the country's overall import trade, the same customs statistics showed.
S&P seeks a takeover
Standard & Poor's plans to buy the half of a Taiwan-credit rating venture it doesn't own from the Ministry of Finance, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing no one.
Standard & Poor's, a unit of McGraw-Hill Companies Inc, is keen to buy the half of Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) now held by the government through entities such as Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taiwan Securities Central Depositary Co, the newspaper said.
The venture, set up in May 1997, is close to becoming profitable, the newspaper reported. A decision about the takeover will be made at a meeting of Taiwan Ratings shareholders next month, the paper said.
Nan Ya Plastics mulls bond sale
Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), the country's biggest maker of chemicals used in plastics, said it will sell NT$6 billion ($US173 million) of unsecured bonds, taking advantage of low interest rates to refinance older debt.
The company will pay a fixed interest rate of 1.7 percent on NT$2.5 billion of five-year notes and 1.9 percent on NT$3.5 billion of seven-year bonds, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Nan Ya Plastics hasn't appointed a sale manager.
The processor of polyvinyl chloride, a chemical used to make plastic pipes, is using low interest rates to raise funds.
NT dollar rises
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded higher against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.035 to close at NT$34.753 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$418 million.
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