■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.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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