Formosa Plastics Group (台塑集團), the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate, yesterday reported NT$138.9 billion (US$4.96 billion) in combined revenue for its four major subsidiaries last month, up 0.4 percent month-on-month and 84.1 percent year-on-year.
Last year’s low comparison base partially accounted for the increase, but continued strong demand was also a factor, with subsidiary Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠) reporting record monthly revenue.
Formosa Plastics Corp (FPC, 台塑), the group’s flagship firm, reported revenue of NT$24.37 billion, up 65.2 percent year-on-year.
In a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing, FPC said that revenue contracted 2.6 percent month-on-month due to maintenance repairs to its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant in Kaohsiung’s Jenwu District (仁武).
PVC sales fell by 26,000 tonnes month-on-month, causing a NT$1 billion drop in revenue.
FPC also had equipment malfunctions at its butanol plant in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) and material shortages in Taiwan and Ningbo, China.
Butanol sales fell by 18,000 tonnes compared with March, causing a NT$1 billion drop in revenue.
Nevertheless, last month was FPC’s second-highest for revenue.
Nan Ya reported revenue of NT$34.9 billion, up 1.55 percent month-on-month and 71.01 percent year-on-year, which is also a monthly record, according to a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing.
“Our company is maintaining peak operations at the moment,” Nan Ya said. “With the sustained demand for industrial chemicals and the rise in sales prices, we have been surprised to see sales rise month-on-month.”
Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化學纖維) reported revenue of NT$33.05 billion, up 2.7 percent month-on-month and 82.2 percent year-on-year.
The rise in revenue was due mainly to an increase in raw material costs, leading to a rise in product prices, it said, adding that demand for plastic products is “losing heat,” but average prices were up compared with March.
Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced revenue of NT$46.55 billion, down 0.3 percent month-on-month, but up 110.1 percent year-on-year.
On average, it refined 344,000 barrels of oil per day, up 3,000 barrels from March, it said, adding that prices remain “comparable” to the month before.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the