Amtran Technology Co (瑞軒), which makes TVs for Vizio Inc and Xiaomi Corp (小米), yesterday said that it plans to accelerate its capacity expansion in Vietnam to help clients circumvent heavy tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese goods.
The company started shipping slim-screen TVs to clients from its Vietnamese plant last month as it reallocated some production out of its Chinese manufacturing site in Suzhou, Amtran said.
The first-phase expansion to produce 2 million TVs per year is expected to cost US$39.6 million, Amtran said.
Washington in September raised tariffs on TVs imported from China to 20 percent from 5 percent amid a trade dispute with Beijing.
“To minimize operational risks, we have started a new development plan to build a second plant adjacent to the existing one in Vietnam,” Amtran spokesman Scottie Chiu (邱裕平) said by telephone yesterday.
Amtran expects to complete the second-phase expansion in the third quarter next year, Chiu said.
He did not provide financial details for the new expansion plan as it is still subject to the approval of the company’s board of directors.
As Amtran is ahead of its rivals in reallocating TV manufacturing outside China, the company has an advantage when capturing new orders amid a changing global trade environment, Chiu said.
The company started assembling TVs for Samsung Electronics Co at the end of last year, and it is expecting orders to increase gradually this year and next year.
The Vietnamese plants would also serve as a stepping-stone to ASEAN and EU nations, given their geographic advantages, Chiu said.
Vietnam has signed numerous free-trade agreements with other nations, including one with the EU which is to take effect next year, allowing Vietnamese goods to enjoy preferential tariffs, he said.
Amtran aims to ship 4 million flat-panel TVs this year, up 17.65 percent from 3.4 million last year, he said.
The company has 1,800 employees in China and 1,300 in Vietnam.
In the first three quarters, Amtran’s net profit more than tripled to NT$144.31 million (US$4.78 million), or earnings per share of NT$0.18, from NT$31.41 million in the same period last year.
Revenue grew 13.61 percent year-on-year to NT$11.02 billion in the first three quarters.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The