Software segment value rises
The output value of Taiwan's software industry is estimated to reach NT$175 billion this year, a 12 percent growth from a year ago, Paul Wang (王忠正), chairman of Information Service Industry Association of the ROC (資訊軟體協會), said yesterday.
Wang made the remark after a press conference on the association's progress in improving the environment for the development of the industry.
Wang said the association last year urged the government to include the information software sector in one of the key industries to elevate the nation's knowledge-based economy and increase the general budget allocation to promote information technology on par with advanced countries within three years.
He said both appeals have gained support from the government, and the association hopes to further suggest authorities allocate resources and integrate official and private resources to turn the nation into an information software exporting country.
As the software industry is also prospering in China, the association is in talks with its Chinese counterparts regarding the possibility of forming strategic alliances to jointly tap the greater Chinese market, Wang added.
China Motor joins with Daimler
DaimlerChrysler AG plans to form a venture in China with Taiwan's China Motor Co (中華汽車) to export Mercedes-Benz vehicles to Asia, the company's President Huang Wen-cheng (黃文成) told a Chinese-language newspaper yesterday.
Separately, Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp agreed to allow China Motor to use the Mitsubishi brand for new cars designed by the Taipei-based carmaker, Huang added.
DaimlerChrysler had previously been in talks with its Chinese partner Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co to make Mercedes cars in China. That venture was dropped after Beijing Auto's South Korean partner Hyundai Motor Co objected to the proposed venture.
Inbound remittances up
Foreign investors made net remittances amounting to US$700 million into Taiwan in August, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday.
This was the first monthly net inbound remittance recorded since April. Foreign investors were net outbound remitters in May, June and July, with the amount hitting a new high of US$3.2 billion in May.
Accumulated net inbound remittances by foreign investors totaled US$72 billion as of the end of August, according to the commission.
Taiwan-China trade expands
Indirect trade between Taiwan and China in the six months to June rose 39.2 percent from a year earlier on strong demand for electronic parts, machinery and plastic goods, the Board of Foreign Trade said yesterday.
For the six-months, Taiwan registered a trade surplus with China of US$13.84 billion, up 24.4 percent from a year earlier.
The value of trade reached US$29.08 billion, accounting for 17.7 percent of Taiwan's total external trade during the period, up from 16.6 percent a year earlier.
Exports to China in the first half rose 34.1 percent to US$21.46 billion, while imports were up 56.1 percent at US$7.62 billion.
Shipments to China accounted for 25.6 percent of Taiwan's total exports in the six-month period, compared with 23.9 percent a year earlier, it added.
NT dollar continues climb
The New Taiwan dollar continued gaining ground against its US counterpart, advancing NT$0.043 to close at NT$33.920 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$427 million.
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