Representatives of the nation’s top three panel makers will be heading for Beijing on Jan. 20 to sign a US$5 billion deal to provide panels to Chinese companies, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) chairman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said yesterday.
Chinese companies purchased US$4.4 billion in panels from local panel makers during a visit to Taiwan by a procurement delegation in June last year.
After Chinese companies visited Taiwanese makers’ production facilities and established contacts last year, this time around, Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (中華映管) executives will fly over to Beijing to sign deals for the year, Wang told a year-end press conference.
In line with a Chinese government policy providing subsidies to people in cities, villages and suburban areas to encourage replacement of older home electronics, Chinese firms such as Haier Group (海爾), Hisense Group (海信集團) and Xiamen Overseas Chinese Electronics Co (廈華電子) have been buying large quantities of panels for their electronics product.
These firms are part of the nine major Chinese companies that will be buying products in the deal, Wang said.
TAITRA played a role in organizing eight procurement delegations from China last year. This year, 10 delegations from various Chinese provinces are in talks to come to Taiwan to procure local products, it said.
These Chinese firms are expected to place more orders this year than last year, which amounted to US$14.9 billion, on agricultural, food, machinery, electronics and consumer products.
The council aims to bring in more small and medium enterprises to meet the delegations during procurement events to help them reach out to major Chinese vendors.
To facilitate trade promotions across the Taiwan Strait, TAITRA set up five new offices in China last year, bringing the number to 10.
The council is poised to continue to promote trade with China, which makes up 40 percent of total Taiwanese exports. It will also seek to enhance trade activity in other emerging countries to diversify risks, Wang said.
These markets include Russia, Brazil, India, ASEAN countries and the Middle East, he said.
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