Taiwan Today

Corporate investment in Taiwan’s export processing zones has continued to climb these past six months with May’s accumulated total reaching NT$7.78 billion (US$237.78 million). Statistics released June 7 by the Export Processing Zone Administration under the Ministry of Economic Affairs indicate that the operations of most EPZ firms have stabilized. In February, revenues reported by these businesses showed a year-on-year decline of 45.1 percent. This downward shift eased to 30.3 percent in May and the agency expects further improvements in the second half of the year. In addition, the number of EPZ employees on unpaid leave has significantly decreased from 26,624 persons in February, or 48 percent of the total EPZ work force, to 4,553 persons in May, or 8.4 percent. This is a clear indication that the global financial crisis’s impact on EPZ firms is gradually lessening. The administration said that Kaohsiung, Linkuang and Nantze’s EPZs in southern Taiwan, and central Taiwan’s Taichung EPZ have attained land utilization rates of 100 percent. As the global economy rallies, the agency is assisting EPZ companies in maintaining facilities, tearing down unusable ones and rebuilding new factories. The agency also plans to invest NT$1.13 billion on the 8.5-hectare Rongsu EPZ in Nantze. This move is aimed at attracting major corporations to build customized plants and establish research and development centers and standardized factories. The project will begin upon the completion of major public construction work in 2010.