Siemens AG’s (ETR: SIE) Taiwan branch said that its revenue this year will grow at a similar rate as Taiwan’s economy.

“We are aiming to grow on average at least as much as the country’s GDP is growing. That’s our target,” said Erdal Elver, president and chief executive officer for Siemens Taiwan.

Elver made his remarks during a year-end press conference in Taipei. Taiwanese government and several economic research organizations predicted that Taiwan’s GDP for 2015 should fall between 3.28% and 3.6%. Elver said that Siemens recorded a revenue growth rate last year that was “similar” to Taiwan’s economic growth of 3.51%, but he did not give an exact figure.

Elver said that Siemens’ global business has made substantive progress in the intensely competitive international environment, with its new orders reaching US$88.9 billion and revenues totaling US$81.5 billion for the fiscal year of 2014.

Siemens’ revenues for 2014, Elver said, increased 1% from the previous fiscal year of 2013, as the company registered the net income of

The company registered net income of US$6.3 billion, an increase of 25% from the fiscal year of 2013. Elver said that Siemens Taiwan will continue to promote its “Grow Taiwan Together” initiative and provide solutions in key areas such as sustainable energy, future of manufacturing and intelligent urban infrastructure.

“Siemens Taiwan continues to embrace its commitment to Taiwan and strives to forge a sustainable future for Taiwan’s energy and industrial sectors,” Elver said.

In the area of smart manufacturing, Elver said, Siemens is introducing digital factory and advanced manufacturing concepts to Taiwan with the focus on integrating the entire industrial value chain on both the digitalization and automation levels.

“This will significantly boost flexibility and efficiency for Taiwanese manufacturers in product development while shortening the time needed for these products to reach the market,” Elver said.

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The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said on Jan. 30 that Taiwan’s economy grew 3.51% last year, slightly above the government’s earlier forecast of 3.43%.

DGBAS said that the nation registered a real GDP growth of 3.17% during the last quarter of 2014, beating its own estimate in November of 2.83%. The DGBAS said that despite a series of food safety scandals and crisis in Taiwan during the fourth quarter last year, the domestic economy remained steady and continued to grow, which was the main reason to beat its own forecast last November.

Quoting its statistics, DGBAS said that during the period between October and December, Taiwan’s exports in electronics, machinery and base metal all increased, while outbound sales in gasoline/diesel and plastics/rubber products offset total exports.

The DGBAS said that after inflationary adjustment, real exports in merchandise and services during the fourth quarter last year showed the year-on-year growth of 5.57%, while merchandise and services imports grew 4.59% from the previous year. In the meantime, retail sales for the fourth quarter were boosted by a 4.31% year-on-year sales growth in the auto industry.

DGBAS said, however, the statistics showed that the food safety scandals during the last quarter for 2014 did hurt consumer sentiment to some extent. A positive factor, however, was the local government elections in late November, which boosted spending during the campaign period, the DGBAS said, which became a reason that retail revenue in Taiwan grew 3.08% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, and private consumption increased 2.33%.

DGBAS’ statistics also showed that fixed capital formation also increased, rising 2.19% from a year earlier. Capital equipment imports, however, showed a 1.74% plunge as a result of a higher comparison base in the same period of 2013.

As for the first three quarters of 2014, DGBAS said, Taiwan’s GDP grew 3.41%, 3.87% and 3.63%, respectively.

The DGBAS was scheduled to issue a preliminary report on the nation’s GDP growth for the whole of 2014 and an updated forecast for 2015 sometime in the upcoming February. In its most recent prediction last November, it forecast a 3.50% growth for 2015.

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The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) raised its projection for Taiwan’s economic growth in 2015 on Jan. 26.

TIER, the Taipei-based private research organization, said that improving global economy and a better outlook on domestic consumption can be expected in Taiwan, due to plunging oil prices. TIER said that the nation’s GDP can be expected to grow 3.67% this year, up 0.19 percentage points over its previous forecast set in November.

“The revision is primarily because of the recent decline in international crude oil prices, which could help boost Taiwan’s domestic consumption growth to 2.71% this year, up 0.24 percentage points over TIER’s previous forecast in November,” said Gordon Sun (孫明德), director of TIER’s Macroeconomic Forecasting Center.

Although the nation’s economy as well as the global economy are and will continue to improve and be rebooted which will be led by a strong recovery in the U.S., Sun warned that there will still be uncertainties in Taiwan’s trade and export outlook over 2015 because of weak demand in Europe and China.

TIER’s new GDP estimate was slightly lower than the data from another local leading economic think tank, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research. The institution forecast in December that Taiwan’s GDP will grow 3.5% in 2015, up from the 3.43% growth which was expected in 2014.

Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institution, said in last December that the nation’s GDP growth could edge lower to 3.38% in 2015 from the 3.42% it expected for 2014, because of slowing economic growth in China, leading to weaker demand for Taiwanese exports and a potential drop in investment.

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Talks between Cathay Pacific and its pilots turn out to be a dead end

Talks between Cathay Pacific Airways (HKG: 293) and its pilots regarding their paychecks turned out to be a dead end on Dec. 3, that more potential flight delays and cancelations can be expected in the near future.

Approximately 1,700 union members from Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United States joined the standoff with Asia’s biggest international carrier and insisted on a work-to-rule campaign.

In October, union members declined an offer from Cathay Pacific Airways of a 10% pay increase over three years.

China Aircraft Leasing plans a US$2 billion investment in Harbin

China Aircraft Leasing Group (HKG:1848) announced its proposal of a US$2 billion investment for an aircraft disassembly operation in Harbin on Dec. 4, two days after it announced that it has completed the purchase of 100 jets from Airbus at a total list price of US$10.2 billion.

China Aircraft Leasing, jointly controlled by China Everbright Group, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp and Friedman Pacific Investment Holdings, said that it had entered into a memorandum of understanding with Harbin’s government to undertake an aircraft disassembly project that it planed to make it one of the biggest operations in the world.

Chinese economy rallies in non-manufacturing sectors

A latest data by HSBC (HKG: 0005) on Dec. 3 said that measures of service-sector activity in China showed a marginal improvement in November.

HSBC said that China’s official non-manufacturing PMI rose to 53.9 in November from 53.8 in the previous month. Qu Hongbin (屈宏斌), chief economist for HSBC Hong Kong, described the manufacturing sectors as continuing to experience “sluggish activity,” although the November cut in benchmark interest rates by the People’s Bank of China, the nation’s central bank, is expected to stabilize demand in the short term.

The same data by HSBC showed that private sector activity dropped for the fourth straight month in November, although retail sales figures showed a second straight month of growth and overall retail sales rose 1.4% in October. It undercut claims that the economy was suffering because of the ongoing student-led pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong.

“I just don’t find sufficient evidence that it affects people’s sentiment,” said economist Raymond Yeung from ANZ.

He said that China’s anti-graft drive has been the more important factor in explaining Hong Kong’s weak retail environment this year.

The post Cross-strait News Daily Round-up for Dec. 4 appeared first on VR World.

The “comeback” of the PC sector and steady demand for mobile devices means a solid year of economic growth for Taiwan, a new report says.

Taiwan’s economy is expected to grow at 3.27% in 2014, according to a report released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics in July. This comes just over official government goals of 2.8% annual growth. These numbers were recently corroborated by data from a report by the Institute for Economic Research (Ifo) World Economic Survey released earlier this month. The group was optimistic about Taiwan’s prospects in the second half of the year.

In addition, Taiwan’s industrial economic production index — a barometer of how active the country’s factories are — hit new highs with a 6.08-percent growth year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

But for Taiwan, this growth comes with risks. Taiwan’s existential threat — the island’s only real cause for national security concern — comes from neighbouring China, which is also one of its biggest sources of growth given the country’s appetite for consumer electronics. Taiwanese manufacturing companies, which make up some of the largest private sector employers in China, have enjoyed solid yearly gains, but at the same time China could easily weaponize this market dependence.

More options than one

But China isn’t the only market with a demand for Taiwan’s exports. As a 2011 white paper from the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan argued, Taiwan needs to diversify its economic partnerships to lessen its reliance on hostile China. Fast growing South East Asia — the Philippines, Malaysia,Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia — all have middle classes with rising income and a strong appetite for gadgets such as phablets, tablets and smart watches.

In addition, with the economy picking up in the United States and the EU, Taiwan could make a big push to build the brand of “Made in Taiwan” products in both of these markets. Consumers skeptical of “Made in China” products may be more inclined to buy Taiwan instead.

In the end economic liberalism is the best option for Taiwan. While security concerns stemming from neighbouring China may temper calls for complete laissez-faire public policy,  Taiwan’s economy could make the rest of the developed world jealous by posting 4-5% annual growth.

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