Costco to set up logistics and distribution center in Taoyuan: “Taipei, Dec. 25 (CNA) Costco Wholesale Corp. will set up a Taiwan logistics and distribution center in Taoyuan County at the end of next year, a move expected to significantly cut its cost of distribution, which is currently being outsourced, a county official said Friday.

After factoring in the bright prospects for the Taoyuan Aerotropolis development project and the northern county’s favorable geographic location, Costco decided to set up the center there to facilitate the distribution of products to its various branches around Taiwan, according to the official from the county’s Economic Development Department.

Costco, the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States, expects to invest NT$800 million (US$24.81 million) in the center and two new big box outlets in northern and southern Taoyuan.

This was the first large-scale investment project in the county to be announced since Magistrate John Chih-yang Wu assumed his post earlier this month, and the economic development official said it should help stimulate the development of related industries.

Ahmen Lee, Costco Taiwan’s regional marketing manager, confirmed the project earlier Friday and said Costco decided to locate the center in Taoyuan because it is a very important market in Taiwan and home of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

The planned logistics center, to cover an estimated 49,600 square meters, will be located in Dayuan Township.

The two Costco branches to be set up in the county at yet-to-be finalized locations will allow local Costco members to shop only a short distance from their homes, rather than needing to travel to Costco outlets in Taipei or Hsinchu as they do now, Lee added. (By Chiu Chun-chin and Y.L. Kao)” (Via Taiwan Headlines – Business.)

Taipei-based China Airlines Boeing 747-400

TAIPEI, Taiwan (The China Post) — China Airlines, Taiwan’s largest carrier, said it may post a profit in 2010 as the global economy rebounds.

“We may have a chance to be profitable next year as the economic recovery boosts demand for our cargo and passenger services,” Chairman Philip Wei told reporters in Taoyuan, where Taiwan’s biggest airport is located. The company celebrated its 50th anniversary yesterday.

China Airlines, based in Taipei, in October posted a third-quarter loss of NT$2.62 billion, narrower than the NT$5.88 billion deficit it reported a year earlier. Improving cross-strait ties have allowed the company to add more mainland flights, offsetting a global slump in passenger and air-cargo demand. Airlines worldwide may lose a total of US$11 billion this year, according to the International Air Transport Association.

China Airlines climbed 0.5 percent to close at NT$10.75 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The stock has lost 1.8 percent this year, compared with the 69 percent gain on the benchmark TAIEX index. – read more at The China Post…

Hsinchu in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — As the economic recovery has brought a lot of orders to Taiwan’s high-tech companies, the real estate market in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu area — the island’s high-tech manufacturing base — is expected to benefit most, with both housing prices and trading volumes to set a record by the end of the year, according to real estate brokerages.

The local real estate agency U-trust said since high-tech businesses began booming in the first quarter, home purchases and sales in Hsinchu have reached 7,600 in Q3, up from 7,500 in Q2, which was a 24 percent rise from the previous quarter. Liu Pin-yao, a spokesman of the real estate agency, said he expected the housing trade volume in the technology-based area for the year to not only exceed last year’s volume, but also reach an all-time high.

Liu said the housing prices in Jhubei City, a transportation center of Hsinchu County, reached NT$135,000 (US$4,192) per ping (3.305 square meters) in Q2, nearly the same as last year’s high of NT$136,000.

The rising year-end bonuses offered by the high-tech companies will help increase homebuying in Hsinchu by the end of the year, he said.

Meanwhile, the real estate market in Hsinchu’s neighbor Taoyuan City, also enjoyed growth. The city’s newly-developed area around Taoyuan County Arts Park, which will be completed by the end of this year, and the Nankan area, both saw a growth rate of 40 percent for the prices of commercial property in the past two years, he added.

Property prices are also expected to rise in major cities in Taiwan, including Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. Many of the buyers are believed to be speculators who are eying Taiwan markets as good places to invest in property. – read more at The China Post…

Dubai, UAE

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s banking sector has a total of NT$6.3 billion (US$195 million) in financial risk exposure to Dubai-linked financial assets. The amount was higher than originally estimated but should not pose severe financial threats, according to officials.

“As of Friday, after several Taiwanese banks filed in their estimates, we calculate that the size of Taiwanese banks’ exposure to debts in Dubai stands at US$195 million,” said Hsiao Chang-jui, deputy chief of the Banking Bureau under the Cabinet-level Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).

Taiwan’s major lender Cathay Financial Holdings said its Cathay United Bank has a stake of US$28.55 million (NT$923 million), including US$10 million (NT$323 million) in direct lending to Dubai World Group Finance Ltd.

The bank also lent US$18.55 billion to two of Dubai World Group’s affiliates — DP World Ltd. and Nakheel — by joining the international consortium loan programs.

In addition, Cathay United Bank has an exposure of US$3.5 million in lending to Dubai’s state-owned bank, Emirates Bank International, which is assigned an A- rating by S&P credit rating agency.

The Cathay group stressed the credit lines to institutions in Dubai will not weaken the overall financial viability of Cathay United Bank.

Taishin Holdings has an exposure of US$15 million and Shin Kong Financial Holding Co. has US$5 million exposed, due to participation in offering international consortium loans, according to the FSC.

Both said the risk exposures will no affect their financial standings. — read more at The China Post…

Novotel Clarke Quay, Singapore - coming soon to Taiwan?

Taipei, Nov. 5, 2009 (CENS) – Judy Li –Inspired by the developing tourism market after Taiwan has opened its doors to mainland Chinese travelers, some international hotel chains are showing interest to open properties on the island.

Novotel, a four-star hotel under ACCOR of France, is partnering with China Airlines to run a layover hotel near the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, which will open Nov. 22nd with an investment of NT$1 billion (US$30.3 million) by China Airlines.

With 400 hotels worldwide, Novotel`s transit property will be its first in Taiwan, also the first to adopt European management on the island, with China Airlines expecting the hotel to turn profitable within two years.

Ritz-Carlton Hotel, a world-renowned five-star luxury hotel chain, is currently looking for suitable partners and place to set up a property. A senior executive at Ritz-Carlton said that Taipei, Bangkok and Sidney are the top three cities in which the chain wants to set up operations in Asia. read more at Taiwan Headlines…

Kaohsiung Harbour - No longer a top ten port

Taipei (Seatrade Asia Online): The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) has planned to set up a Shipping Affairs Administration in 2011 to supervise the operations of four international harbor affairs firms to be transformed from the existing four major international harbour bureaus, thereby upgrading the competitiveness of Taiwan’s major international harbors, a top MOTC official told the China Post on Friday.

Yeh Kuang-shih, vice minister of transportation and communications, made the remarks at the transportation committee meeting of the Legislative Yuan.

During the legislative session, lawmakers doubted the justification of the government decision to build direct shipping links across the Taiwan Strait, as Kaohsiung Harbour, the island’s largest international harbor, has been squeezed out of the world’s top-10 harbors in terms of cargo loading and unloading volumes.

Lawmaker Yang Jen-fu of the ruling Kuomintang said that the cargo handling volume of the Kaohsiung Port has declined after cross-strait direct shipping links took effect, indicating that relatively weak competitiveness of the port.

Another KMT lawmaker Lo Shu-lei also said that the Kaohsiung port used to take the No.3 place in the world, and still maintained the No. 6 spot in 2006, but the ranking dropped sharply to 12th in 2008, losing ground to ports in mainland China. read more at Seatrade Asia Online…

Carrefour store in Taipei

(AFP) TAIPEI – A Taiwanese court has rejected an appeal by French retail giant Carrefour against a fine for misleading advertisements, an official said Friday.

The Supreme Administrative Court upheld the decision against Carrefour for claiming it checked its price lists daily and immediately lowered the price of items found to be more expensive than competing stores, a court official said.

Despite the claim, made on Carrefour’s website and in its catalogues, four of its outlets failed to charge the lowest prices, the Fair Trade Commission found earlier.

Following its decision, made in 2006, the commission slapped a fine of 4.44 million Taiwan dollars (138,000 US dollars) on Carrefour for making untruthful and misleading statements on its pricing. read more at asiaone business…

A woman is seen playing the "Happy Farm" game on the Facebook in her office in Taipei, yesterday. (The China Post)

The China Post reports that a netizen plans to sue Facebook for deceiving him into spending money, according to the United Evening News.

The netizen, surnamed Hsu, spent a total of NT$2,000 in seven days on a game on the Facebook Web site named “Happy Farm,” and accused the company of luring consumers into spending more money on the game, said the report.

The game is a virtual farm run by players growing vegetables and raising livestock by themselves. Players have to spend all day taking care of the farm and prevent other players from stealing products.

Playing Happy Farm itself is free. However, Facebook users can pay through credit card, cash, Paypal or cell phone to buy virtual currency for extra functions in the game. But such functions raised disputes with customers, including double charging on credit cards. In some cases, customers didn’t receive virtual currency after paying.

The netizen originally bought the cash loadable cards and added NT$300 value on it. Later, he bought four guard dogs from the Web site to protect his farm from other players, said the report.

However, his crops were still stolen by other players and he was asked by the Web site to spend more money to feed the dogs.

Hsu earlier made claims for compensation from the cash cards company, Gamania Digital Entertainment (GDE). But the company said that they are commissioned by Facebook. They only help to sell the loadable cards and on-line currency for the games, and check for customers’ adding value. The spokesperson of GDE said that they will show customers’ dealing records to the police to resolve on-line consumer disputes.

Hsu has not received any response from Facebook and he plans to sue the company. read more…

The ASUS Reader...the new dominant product in the category?

The Times Online reports that the world of ebooks is about to start a new chapter with the arrival of the cheapest digital reader on the market. Asus, one of the world’s biggest consumer electronics businesses, confirmed last week that it is planning to shake up the market in the same way it did when it launched the first netbook — the low-cost alternative to the laptop.

The ASUS device as described offers a significantly improved feature set over its competitors, the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader. The new device features a color screen and a more natural, book-like design. Perhaps its strongest competition (albeit at a higher price point) would be the rumored Apple tablet device, which would offer full OS/X functionality and content available through the well-established iTunes distribution channel.