PHARMACEUTICALS
FamilyMart eyes pharmacies
Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), the nation’s No. 2 convenience store chain, yesterday said that it plans to provide pharmacy services and organic farming products to meet demand. Taiwan FamilyMart chairman and chief executive officer Yeh Jung-ting (葉榮廷) said at a news conference that the company has decided to team up with Great Tree Pharmacy chain (大樹連鎖藥局) and foods supplier Tanhou (天和鮮物) to provide the new services in selective stores. Yeh said demand for the “large-format convenience store” is rising and that Taiwan FamilyMart would keep looking for potential partners to expand this new business.
AUTOMAKERS
Mazda cuts parts prices
Mazda Motor Corp yesterday lowered prices of imported auto parts and components, such as headlights, windshields and bumpers used for the CX-5 and Mazda 6 models, by up to 50 percent for local consumers after taking over its component supply business from its former partner Ford Distribution Taiwan Ltd (品爵汽車). The announcement comes a year after the Japanese automaker set up its local subsidiary, Mazda Motor Taiwan, to sell its cars. The company had cooperated with Ford Lio Ho Motor Co (福特六和) in selling Mazda cars for 15 years.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Eversol to aid Green Energy
Solar wafer maker Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技) yesterday said it had signed an outsourcing agreement with smaller wafer supplier Eversol Corp (旭晶能源) to cope with rising demand for high-end wafer products. Green Energy said the manufacturing agreement for ingot growth and wafer slicing with Eversol is part of its expansion plan, which is to bring its total multi-crystalline wafer capacity to more than 3 gigawatts (GW) from 2GW, making it among the world’s top three multi-crystalline wafer suppliers. The deal is also expected to increase bargaining power for raw materials, Green Energy said in a statement.
BANKING
Asset quality healthy: FSC
Taiwanese banks’ average non-performing loan ratio stayed unchanged at 0.26 percent at the end of May, reflecting healthy asset quality for the 39 domestic lenders, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the coverage ratio — loans covered by banks’ provisions and a gauge indicating the sufficiency of bad loan reserves — rose 3.52 percentage points to 490.55 percent in May, the commission said. Total outstanding loans at domestic banks stood at NT$25.23 trillion (US$811.25 billion) in May, an increase of NT$48.9 billion from April, while bad loans totaled NT$64.9 billion, a decrease of NT$300 million from the previous month’s NT$65.2 billion, the commission said.
MANUFACTURING
FPG to raise wages
Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial group, on Tuesday said it had decided to raise wages for its employees by about 4.52 percent following negotiations with its labor union. The hike includes a 3.5 percent raise in monthly salaries and NT$6,000 in allowances for the entire year, which represents a 4.52 percent increase in monthly pay for employees. The union said that although the hike was lower than it had asked for, the amount remained acceptable. The union had demanded a 4 percent raise in wages and a NT$10,000 increase in allowances.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors