The four main units of Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday reported declining sales for last month.
Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), the nation’s largest producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), said that revenue for last month slid 8.2 percent from March to NT$16.55 billion (US$548.6 million), mainly due to slowing demand from China.
However, on an annual basis, revenue last month rose 8.8 percent, bolstered by better product prices, the company said.
“China’s tighter capital controls have lowered demand [for petrochemical products] from small and medium-sized enterprises there,” Formosa Plastics president Jason Lin (林健男) told an earnings conference.
Shipments of PVC last month decreased 25,000 tonnes from March, according to a company statement.
Several downstream Chinese customers are also facing challenges caused by stricter environmental regulations, making them more hesitant to build inventory, Lin told reporters.
Despite declining sales in China last month, Formosa Plastics said it expects sales for this quarter to grow sequentially, as it is entering the peak season.
The company has also set a utilization rate target of more than 90 percent this quarter, compared with last quarter’s 88 percent.
Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維), which produces aromatics and styrenics, saw its sales decline 6.4 percent from March, but increase 2.8 percent from a year earlier to NT$27.6 billion.
“Two major factories went through regular maintenance last month, lowering the total capacity over the period,” Formosa Chemicals vice chairman Hong Fu-yuan (洪福源) said.
Falling prices for the company’s key products — p-xylene and o-xylene — also dragged down sales last month, he said.
Nanya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), the nation’s largest plastics manufacturer, saw its revenue drop 5.9 percent to NT$24.3 billion on a monthly basis, but increase 2.7 percent from the previous year.
Nanya attributed the decline to slumping oil prices.
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), the nation’s only listed oil refiner, saw its sales decrease 16.8 percent monthly and 1 percent annually to NT$42.27 billion, company data showed.
Overall, the group saw its revenue last month drop 10.8 percent from NT$124.1 billion to NT$110.7 billion on a monthly basis, but rise 2.1 percent from a year earlier.
Cumulative sales during the first four months of the year increased 16.3 percent from NT$416.9 billion to NT$484.92 billion a year ago, data showed.
Shares of Formosa Plastics, the group’s flagship unit, rose 0.56 percent to NT$90.50 in Taipei trading yesterday before the earnings announcement, surpassing the benchmark TAIEX, which edged up 0.38 percent to 9,937.25 points.
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales