Gas and diesel prices drop
Domestic gasoline and diesel prices will fall by NT$2 and NT$2.2 per liter respectively today to reflect the recent fall in international crude oil prices, both the state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation’s only publicly traded oil refiner, announced yesterday.
After the price drop, CPC’s price for a liter of 98-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$27.4, 95-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$25.9 and 92-octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$25.2, while diesel will be NT$22.3.
CPC announced its largest price drop last week since the floating oil price mechanism was implemented. Prices of gasoline and diesel were down NT$2.3 and NT$2.5 per liter respectively last Saturday, sending all retail gasoline and diesel prices below NT$30 a liter.
NEC expands procurements
Kaoru Yano, president of NEC Corp, said yesterday that the Japanese company would expand its procurements in Taiwan and expects to profit from the government’s “i-Taiwan 12 infrastructure projects” following a meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The company will expand its purchases to software and service products from networking and computer hardware items, Yano said.
NEC purchased around US$3 billion in products in Taiwan in each of the last two years. Yano said the figure would remain the same this year but might increase next year. He did not elaborate.
Taipower sells NT$8 billion
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) sold NT$8 billion (US$245 million) in bonds to fund the purchase of new generators and to build transmission lines.
The state-run utility sold NT$5.8 billion in five-year notes and NT$2.2 billion in seven-year bonds, Taipower said yesterday.
The auction brought this year’s total debt sales to NT$59 billion, company spokesman Clint Chou (周義岳) said. Taipower may sell as much as NT$80 billion in bonds this year to help fund spending of about NT$160 billion on power plants and networks, Chou said in July.
“We have to continue expanding capacity,” he said yesterday in a telephone interview. “We’ll probably have another bond sale this year.”
China Steel seeks land
Kaohsiung-based China Steel Corp (中鋼) said it was seeking land in Taiwan for a possible NT$60 billion (US$1.8 billion) investment.
The nation’s largest steel maker is in talks with the harbor authorities in Taichung for leasing land, the company said yesterday in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Taiwan’s annual production of about 25 million tonnes of steel isn’t enough to meet local demand, prompting China Steel to expand, executive vice president Chung Le-min (鍾樂民) said on Wednesday.
The company sold NT$9.6 billion in five-year bonds this week to help pay for its building plans.
NT drops for third week
The New Taiwan dollar completed a third weekly decline on concern the global credit crisis will spur overseas investors to pull their money from emerging markets.
The local currency declined 0.3 percent this week to NT$32.55 versus the US dollar at the 4pm close of trading, Taipei Forex Inc said. That was its lowest close since Oct. 24 last year.
“We’re seeing a repatriation of foreign funds from Taiwan,” said Dwyfor Evans, a currency strategist at State Street Global Markets in Hong Kong.
“Given our expectation of continued risk aversion going forward, that will imply further weakness in the Taiwanese dollar,” he said.
The NT dollar may touch NT$33.50 by the end of the year, Evans said.
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