The state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (
"After gaining preliminary approval, the Long Life (
Hwang added that Chinese authorities may only allow 30,000 boxes of Long Life cigarettes, worth NT$200 million, to enter its markets in the first year, which he called a "small yet significant step to gain market share in China."
Each Long Life pack will sell for 15 yuan in provinces along the east coast and the Yangtze River (長江), according to Hwang.
Although it is interested in entering China's beer market, the state-run monopoly has met a setback in introducing its Taiwan Beer to China, which appears to boycott the beer for political reasons. China has refused to approve the Taiwan Beer brand since the name may suggest the nation's sovereignty.
"China has been delaying the application process since March for no reason," Hwang said, adding that he suspects it may have something to do with the presidential election. Hwang urged China to put aside ideology when reviewing its business plan, adding that the brand name is unlikely to change.
"We hope that China can live up to its WTO commitments and grant a fair national treatment," Hwang said.
Vowing to achieve NT$3 earnings per share and a profit goal of NT$10 billion this year, Hwang said the company will soon propose a new privatization plan to the Cabinet as it is sure to fail to meet the deadline next month to initiate its government-backed privatization plan. He said that next Tuesday the company's board will finalize the privatization plan, which proposes to release the company's 350,000 shares to the open market as soon as next year.
"Once the Cabinet gives its go-ahead, the initial public offering will take another 10 months to prepare," Hwang said.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The firm has already completed one fab, which is to begin mass producing 2-nanomater chips next year, while two others are under construction Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, plans to begin construction of its fourth and fifth wafer fabs in Kaohsiung next year, targeting the development of high-end processes. The two facilities — P4 and P5 — are part of TSMC’s production expansion program, which aims to build five fabs in Kaohsiung. TSMC facility division vice president Arthur Chuang (莊子壽) on Thursday said that the five facilities are expected to create 8,000 jobs. To respond to the fast-changing global semiconductor industry and escalating international competition, TSMC said it has to keep growing by expanding its production footprints. The P4 and P5
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Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp said they are leaving a global climate-banking group, becoming the latest Wall Street lenders to exit the coalition in the past month. In a statement, Citigroup said while it remains committed to achieving net zero emissions, it is exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Bank of America said separately on Tuesday that it is also leaving NZBA, adding that it would continue to work with clients on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The banks’ departure from NZBA follows Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co. The largest US financial institutions are under increasing pressure
STIMULUS PLANS: An official said that China would increase funding from special treasury bonds and expand another program focused on key strategic sectors China is to sharply increase funding from ultra-long treasury bonds this year to spur business investment and consumer-boosting initiatives, a state planner official told a news conference yesterday, as Beijing cranks up fiscal stimulus to revitalize its faltering economy. Special treasury bonds would be used to fund large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins, said Yuan Da (袁達), deputy secretary-general of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission. “The size of ultra-long special government bond funds will be sharply increased this year to intensify and expand the implementation of the two new initiatives,” Yuan said. Under the program launched last year, consumers can
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