Shares of drug developer SCI Pharmtech Inc (SCI, 旭富製藥) yesterday plunged by their daily limit to NT$112 after a fire broke out on Sunday at the company’s plant in Taoyuan’s Lujhu District (蘆竹), killing a Filipino worker and causing about NT$800 million (US$28.05 million) in losses.
The fire began at about noon when the production lines were processing chemical solutions, the Taoyuan-based company said.
Because of the chemicals stored in the plant and strong winds, sporadic explosions occurred and the blaze soon spread to the factories of four other companies.
Photo: CNA
Taoyuan firefighters said they expect to bring the fire under control this afternoon.
SCI Pharmtech spokesman Deiter Yang (楊文禎) told a news conference yesterday that a Filipino worker died early yesterday after being treated for third-degree burns covering 90 percent of his body.
Another employee, a Taiwanese man, was discharged from hospital after being treated for burns to his hand, Yang said.
The company estimated about NT$800 million in losses because of damage to its plant, but added that it should be able to obtain full compensation from insurance companies.
Still, it would take at least six months to rebuild the plant, as most production lines were damaged by the fire, it said.
It estimated another NT$600 million in lost orders in the first quarter, Yang said.
The company has about NT$250 million in finished products, but it needs to assess their quality after the fire, he added.
The Lujhu plant employs about 270 workers, who will all be paid in full up to the Lunar New Year holiday in February, Yang said.
As production has been suspended, the company would evaluate whether it needs to adopt furlough programs, he said.
The fire also damaged the factories of Tao Yuan Paper Manufacturing Co (桃園紙廠), Tung Yang Machine Industry Co (東陽精機), Gwo Chern Industrial Co (國晟工業) and Hong Li International Knitting Co (鴻利國際針織).
SCI Pharmtech is waiting for damage reports from the four before it could determine compensation, Yang said.
The company has NT$30 million in public liability insurance claims for damage to nearby factories, he added.
A subsidiary of local conglomerate Mercuries & Associates Ltd (三商行) and led by chairman Wong Wei-chyun (翁維駿), SCI Pharmtech produces active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), cannabidiol intermediates and specialty chemicals.
The company reported cumulative revenue of NT$2.61 billion in the first 11 months of this year, up 18.19 percent from NT$2.21 billion in the same period last year, thanks to steady shipments of APIs for hydroxychloroquine — a medicine used to treat or prevent malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as mild cases of COVID-19 — and stable sales of other APIs used in drugs for treating epilepsy and depression.
Net profit in the first three quarters of this year was NT$638.92 million, compared with NT$481.6 million in the same period last year, or earnings per share of NT$8.04, compared with NT$6.06 a year earlier, company data showed.
As of yesterday, the company’s shares had risen 2.75 percent this year, underperforming the main bourse, which rose 19.9 percent, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary