Tong Yang Industry Co Ltd (東陽實業), the nation’s biggest autoparts maker, said a plant in Tainan caught fire early yesterday morning and caused at least NT$200 million (US$6.1 million) in damages, the company’s preliminary assessment said.
The incident would not affect the Tainan-based company’s shipments, Tong Yang said in a statement.
The blaze destroyed about 5,940m², or 1.5 percent of Tong Yang’s Tainan headquarters, company spokeswoman Fancy Hsu (許芳華) said in a statement submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
“The fire will not affect shipments as the capacity lost in the fire will be fully made up by other factories,” Hsu said in the statement.
Because the fire broke out in the early morning, nobody was injured, she said.
The fire broke out at 3:20am and was under control by 4am, the company said. A malfunction of an electrical wire may have caused the fire, the company’s initial investigation found.
Automobile components made at the Tainan plant are primarily for aftermarket customers. The damage to machinery, equipment and inventory will be fully covered by the company’s fire insurance policies, it said.
Tong Yang reported 73.4 percent growth in pre-tax profits of NT$392 million for the first quarter, from NT$226 million a year ago, as demand for aftermarket products increased and China initiated a policy of subsidizing automobile sales in rural areas.
Company president Raymond Wu (吳永茂) said auto parts demand for aftermarket products grew rapidly in the first three months of this year, as used car sales rose during the economic recession, helping boost demand for car maintenance services.
The Chinese government’s economic stimulus measure to subsidize car purchases in remote areas has boosted sales of its Chinese units, Wu said.
Shares of Tong Yang jumped 4.12 percent last week to close at NT$35.4 on Friday, partly helped by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ announcement that it would open local industries, including automotive, to Chinese investors possibly as early as next month.
So far this year, the stock has surged 213.3 percent, outperforming the TAIEX’s 41.3 percent rise, stock exchange data showed.
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