■CONSUMER GOODS
MOEA plans ‘Halal’ talk
The government will hold a seminar on July 29 on Halal certification, an Islamic product certification for products considered acceptable for consumption by Muslims worldwide, to help local companies explore Islamic markets. Halal certification is recognition that food, medical, cosmetics, machinery and other daily products are permissible for use by Muslims under Islamic law, a statement by the Bureau of Foreign Trade said on Thursday. Halal is an Arabic word that means “lawful.” The market for the certified products could generate business opportunities worth more than US$1 trillion, as the world has roughly 1.8 billion Muslims, the bureau said.
■SAFETY
Unsafe goods identified
More than half of the substandard products imported to Taiwan last month were goods made in China, an official at the Consumer Protection Commission said yesterday. Liu Ching-fang (劉清芳), director of supervision and coordination at the commission, said that the agency published warnings about 65 unsafe imported goods last month, including 34 from China. A total of 59 of the warnings concerned goods classified as commercial products, including 23 chemical industrial products, 13 electronics products and four toy products. The remaining six warnings fell into the category of food and agriculture products.
■AVIATION
AIDC celebrates cockpit
The Aviation Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空) held a celebration at its complex in Shalu (沙鹿) in Taichung County on Friday to mark the completion of its 100th cockpit for the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter. The AIDC and aviation firms from other countries have joined US-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp to produce the 20-seat helicopter, which is used for civilian purposes. The S-92 is known for being safe and reliable for cargo and passenger transport, search and rescue missions and surveying resources. Sikorsky has an order for 200 S-92 helicopters, which means AIDC expects to make another 100 for a total value of NT$7 billion (US$229.5 million).
■DEVELOPMENT
Investment plans revealed
Major domestic industrial investment projects will amount to an estimated NT$4 trillion (US$131.58 billion) over the next four years, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said on Friday. If all goes smoothly, Liu said, the investment amount will surpass the NT$1 trillion mark this year alone. By industry, Liu said, NT$163 billiion would be invested in optoelectronics, NT$143 billion in the semiconductor sector, NT$130 billion in the steel industry and NT$40 billion in the petrochemical industry.
■ENERGY
Bureau promotes bulbs
Replacing incandescent light bulbs with power-saving bulbs all around Taiwan can save an estimated 800 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 500,000 tonnes per year, the Bureau of Energy said in a statement on Friday. The reduction in emissions is equivalent to planting 27.84 million trees. Taiwan sells some 22.2 million incandescent light bulbs every year on the domestic market, which consume 1.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, the bureau said. The bureau is promoting a five-year program, starting this year, to replace the country’s incandescent light bulbs with power-saving bulbs or other high efficiency bulbs.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS