DHL sees growth in 2004
Bolstered by robust worldwide economic growth in 2004, express operator DHL Worldwide Express has seen double-digit growth in revenue this year, Michael Hsu (許一鳴), director of marketing at DHL Taiwan Corp, said yesterday. Hsu refused to reveal the specific figure.
As the world economy is expected to slow down next year, Hsu said the effect on the logistics industry is not yet known, as companies may launch aggressive marketing strategies during the economic downturn. But the business capacity in Taiwan is reaching a limit due to industry migration to China, forcing the company to come up with integrated service to customers doing business in the greater Chinese region, Hsu said.
One important boost to the industry was the liberalization of cross-strait transportation, which the company has proposed to the government in recent years, Hsu said.
Investment in China approved
The nation has approved 12 applications for China-bound investment totaling US$239.42 million, the Investment Commission said.
The commission also approved five inbound investment applications by foreign investors and overseas Chinese for a total of US$140.94 million, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Of the applications for China-bound investment, electronics contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) was given approval to invest US$68 million in a unit in Yantai in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong.
Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) was authorized to invest US$30 million in a unit in Kunshan in neighboring Jiangsu Province.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
Popular vape brands such as Geek Bar might get more expensive in the US — if you can find them at all. Shipments of vapes from China to the US ground to a near halt last month from a year ago, official data showed, hit by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorized e-cigarettes in the world’s biggest market for smoking alternatives. That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavored vapes that is not authorized to sell in the US, but which had been widely available due to porous import controls. One retailer, who asked not to be named, because
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
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