CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Investment plans approved
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (鴻海精密), which makes iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc, yesterday received approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to invest US$600 million in its Chinese manufacturing units. Hon Hai’s plans were two of the eight China-bound investment projects approved by the ministry yesterday, including CTBC Commercial Bank’s (中國信託商銀) request to transfer US$131.15 million for a branch in Guangzhou.
AVIATION
CAL upping Busan flights
China Airlines (CAL, 中華航空) is to double flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Busan, South Korea, beginning next month, it said. CAL operates one flight in each direction daily except for Friday. Starting on Oct. 26, there are be two flights per day, CAL chairman Sun Hung-hsiang (孫洪祥) said on Friday in Busan.
TRADE
Fastener promotion planned
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) will hold talks in Kuala Lumpur on Monday next week to promote Taiwan’s fastener industry. A group of screw foundries and representatives of the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China (中國輸出入銀行) are to visit Inmax Sdn Bhd, a Taiwanese-owned firm. Fastener exports to Malaysia and Indonesia in the first half of the year grew 9.37 percent and 3.67 percent annually respectively, TAITRA said.
Staff writer, with CNA
RETAIL
UK’s Tesco revises forecast
Tesco has lowered its forecast for first-half profit by ￡250 million (US$409 million), its third warning this year, after finding a fault in its accounts, in the latest blow to the reputation of the UK’s biggest grocer. The firm said its Aug. 29 profit warning overstated expected first-half profit by 23 percent, an error discovered during preparations for its forthcoming interim results, which have now been pushed back to Oct. 23, from the previously stated Oct. 1. Tesco had said on Aug. 29 it expected trading profit for the six months ending Aug. 23 to be in the region of ￡1.1 billion. Tesco chief executive officer Dave Lewis said Robin Terrell had stepped in to lead the grocer’s UK leadership team in the wake of the firm’s accounting issue, which has resulted in four employees stepping down.
JAPAN
Iwata warns on weak yen
Japan is in danger of falling into a recession as the yen’s decline reduces the purchasing power of households and squeezes corporate profits, former Bank of Japan deputy governor Kazumasa Iwata said. “The current yen weakness is slightly excessive,” Iwata said in an interview on Friday in Tokyo. The yen is trading near a six-year low against the US dollar as diverging monetary policies from the US to Japan threaten to increase exchange-rate volatility. Rising import costs are straining the economy as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe weighs whether Japan can take another sales tax increase aimed at reining in the world’s biggest debt burden.
FOOD INDUSTRY
OSI to cut Chinese workforce
US meat supplier OSI Group LLC said yesterday it is laying off most of the workforce of a Chinese subsidiary accused of selling expired beef and chicken to McDonald’s, KFC and other major restaurant chains. Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd (上海福喜食品) has been under investigation since a Shanghai TV station reported in July it repackaged and sold old meat. Six employees were arrested last month on suspicion of producing substandard products. Its owner OSI Group said it would lay off 340 people at the Shanghai unit. It said a small number of employees would be kept on while the investigation is underway. The Web site of Shanghai Husi says it employs about 500 people. “Over the past two months, Shanghai Husi has experienced significant financial and customer losses,” an OSI Group statement said.
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan partners Dongfeng
Nissan Motor Co has formed a joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Corp (東風汽車) in China dedicated to producing premium Infiniti vehicles in the world’s biggest automobile market. Nissan and Dongfeng are to each control 50 percent of the venture that is to sell locally produced vehicles bearing the Dongfeng Infiniti badge and imported models with the Infiniti emblem, the automaker said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Infiniti China managing director Daniel Kirchert was named president of the joint venture, which is to be called Dongfeng Infiniti Motor Co. Infiniti aims to increase annual sales in China to 100,000 cars by 2018, most of which are slated to be produced in the country. The announcement comes as industry-wide sales of passenger vehicles in China last month rose at the slowest pace since March as the economy cools and the government steps up anti-monopoly probes into foreign automakers.
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
Six years ago, LVMH’s billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and US President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands. However, since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees said. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, said three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff. The plant’s problems — which have not
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
TARIFF CONCERNS: The chipmaker cited global uncertainty from US tariffs and a weakening economic outlook, but said its Singapore expansion remains on track Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進), a foundry service provider specializing in producing power management and display driver chips, yesterday withdrew its full-year revenue projection of moderate growth for this year, as escalating US tariff tensions raised uncertainty and concern about a potential economic recession. The Hsinchu-based chipmaker in February said revenues this year would grow mildly from last year based on improving supply chain inventory levels and market demand. At the time, it also anticipated gradual quarter revenue growth. However, the US’ sweeping tariff policy has upended the industry’s supply chains and weakened economic prospects for the world economy, it said. “Now
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