Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) yesterday promised to assist Taiwanese companies seeking to move production out of China as the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak continued to spread in that nation.
“We have already witnessed the first wave of Taiwanese companies returning home [last year] due to an ongoing trade conflict between the US and China,” Shen told reporters. “Now a second wave will [soon be] upon us as large US and European firms require [Taiwanese] suppliers to adjust their production in China in light of the spreading epidemic.”
The ministry would assist the suppliers with their relocation plans, as well as address companies’ concerns over scarcity of land and labor, Shen said.
The ministry would also help Taiwanese manufacturers looking to move production from China to Southeast Asia, with a focus on the nations targeted by the government’s New Southbound Policy, he said.
On concerns that supply-chain disruption in China could negatively affect Taiwan’s GDP growth, Shen said that it would depend on how the outbreak plays out this week and next, adding that Taiwanese firms are ready to negotiate an evolving situation.
On an apparent shortage of masks to prevent the potential spread of the coronavirus, Shen said that the ministry had been in talks with manufacturers, as well as upstream suppliers.
“We are producing about 3.2 million masks a day this week, a number that is to increase by 70,000 per day with support from the military,” Shen said.
Domestic production would be 10 million masks per day by the end of next month after the addition of 60 new machines, he said.
In related news, the InvesTaiwan Service Center yesterday announced that it had approved Zhong Yang Technology Co’s (中揚光電) application to participate in a government program to encourage local investment.
Zhong Yang, in which Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) holds about a 30 percent stake, plans to invest about NT$200 million (US$6.65 million) to expand its production capacity at the Taichung Industrial Park (台中工業區).
Zhong Yang is the only firm to date to have applications approved. The company last year pledged to invest NT$770 million to add new production lines in Taichung.
The center has approved more than NT$716 billion of investment by 170 companies since the program was launched at the beginning of last year.
It aims to increase that figure to more than NT$900 billion this year, Department of Investment Services Director-General Emile Chang (張銘斌) said.
The ministry yesterday approved a plan by Wu Jii Industry Co (梧濟工業), the nation’s largest steel mold maker, to invest nearly NT$300 million to upgrade its operations in Taichung, Changhua and Tainan via a similar government program.
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