In the next few months, free China will begin work on three new industrial districts. In the next year or two, four others will be built.
This was announced by the government in the wake of establishment of the Taiwan Land Development Corporation last December.
Taiwan has completed an industrial district at Liutu near Keelung and is building another one at Kaohsiung, its southern port. The Liutu district occupies an area of 58 hectares and has more than 30 factories. The Kaohsiung district will have an area of 218 hectares and will include an export processing center.
The three new districts are at Kwei Shan and Ting Kan near Taipei and at Toufen, Miaoli. They have a total area of 66 hectares, already fully booked.
The Kwei Shan district of 29 hectares in Taoyuan county is on the Taipei-Kaohsiung main rail and will accommodate medium and small-sized industries, as does the Liutu district. Construction will cost some NT$100 million, or US$2.5 million.
The Ting Kan district of 13 hectares is near the Taipei metropolitan area. Cost will be around NT$53 million, or some US$1.3 million.
The Toufen district of 24 hectares will be built alongside the plants of the China Man-Made Fiber Corporation to accommodate processors of rayon, nylon, and dacron filaments. To cost some NT$80 million, or US$2 million, it will become a man-made fiber processing center.
The Taiwan Land Development Corporation is headed by Chow Hong-tao, commissioner of finance of Taiwan Provincial Government, as board chairman. Its functions include investment in land development; utilization and improvement, planning, design and construction of industrial districts; and reclamation of tidal land.
The corporation reports that under the fourth Four-Year Economic Development Plan beginning this year, the Chinese government will construct four other industrial districts.
A district at Hsin Tien near Taipei will occupy 80 hectares and cost NT$200 million, or US$5 million. It will house medium and small plants.
Another district of 360 hectares will be built at Hualien in eastern Taiwan as an export processing center. Hualien is a new international port. Construction cost will be NT$90 million, or US$2.25 million.
The third district of 85 hectares will be built at Tsoying near the Kaohsiung refinery of the Chinese Petroleum Corporation as a processing center for petrochemicals. Cost will be NT$85 million, or a little more than US$2 million.
The last district, 100 hectares in size, will be in central Taiwan for food processing plants. Construction cost is estimated at NT$110 million, or US$2.75 million.
Record Harvests
Farmers in free China enjoyed record harvests in 1964.
R. C. Li, director of the Provincial Food Bureau, said February 3 that rice production last year set a record of 2,246,639 metric tons.
This is an increase of 137,602 metric tons over 1963. The average per hectare production was up 122 kilograms.
Li said the rice production goal for 1965 has been set at 2,320,000 metric tons.
Production targets for other major crops are sweet potatoes, 2,450,000 metric tons; wheat, 26,400 metric tons; peanuts, 116,000 metric tons; soybeans, 76,250 metric tons; corn, 46,000 metric tons; and oil seed, 31,900 metric tons.
Li said the government will provide sufficient loans and fertilizers. He urged farmers to work out their own production plans and called for an increase in livestock raising as a sideline.
According to statistics of the Taiwan Provincial Government, agriculture accounted for NT$34,224,883,000 of last year's gross national product of NT$94,331,000,000, NT$4,773,681,000 more than in 1963 for an increase of 8.9 per cent (NT$40 equals to US$1).
Agricultural products also provided the lion's share of exports. The Taiwan Provincial Government said that of exports valued at US$464,640,000 in 1964, processed and unprocessed farm products made up more than half—US$268,094,000.
These were outstanding increases:
Sugar cane, NT$1,400,000,000; rice, NT$500,000,000; sweet potatoes, NT$500,000,000; bananas, NT$400,000,000; vegetables, NT$300,000,000; peanuts, NT$300, 000,000; soybeans, NT$100,000,000; hogs, NT$1,500,0000,000; poultry, NT$1,500,000,000.
Production figures announced by TPG included (all figures are metric tons):
Rice, 2,246,639; sweet potatoes, 3,382,853; peanuts, 115,516; soybeans, 1,898; wheat, 19,834; corn, 75,189; cabbage, 26,941; fine sugar, 779,953; brown sugar, 19,457; jute, 15,509; hemp, 15,214; cotton, 2,415; ramie, 11,460; tea 18,299; bananas, 232,840; pineapple, 229,288; citrus fruits, 102,179; mushrooms, 28,204.
The hog census at the end of last year was 2,533,851; that of cattle, 405,200, in addition to 5,100 dairy cows. There were 14,655,000 chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. Eggs laid during the year totaled 364,140,000.
TPG attributed the records to favorable weather, hard work by farmers and such government measures as low-interest loans, subsidies, cash awards training in scientific methods and increased supply of fertilizers.
More Paper
With the expansion of equipment and facilities of three of Taiwan's leading paper manufacturers, production of pulp, paper and paper board is expected to double in two years.
The Taiwan Pulp and Paper Corporation has concluded an agreement with the Parsons and White-Lyddon Organization of New York for a US$3 million expansion program.
TPPC, with capitalization of US$7 million, has plants at Hsinying and Tatu in central Taiwan. The Hsinying plant produces 33,000 metric tons of bagasse pulp a year. When the joint investment project is carried out, production will be raised to 60,000 metric tons a year and pulp brightness raised from the present 80° GE to 92° GE.
The Tatu plant, which produces paper and paper board, will be expanded to produce high quality manifold paper and other papers for industrial use. Production will reach 18,000 metric tons a year.
The Taiwan Chung Hsing Paper Corporation, another leading producer, is seeking Japanese assistance for a kraft pulp plant at Hualien in eastern Taiwan. Daily capacity will be 100 to 150 tons.
Chung Hsing now has two plants at Lotung, northern Taiwan, producing newsprint and cigarette paper. When expansion is completed, annual production will be 80,000 metric tons.
Another large producer, the Pao Feng Industrial Company, has established an affiliate, the Pao Loong Paper Company, to make 10,000 metric tons of corrugated paper annually. Pao Feng makes asphalt roofing, asphalt felt, waterproof building paper, corrugated straw board and straw board.
Two years hence, the island will have annual paper production of 300,000 metric tons instead of the present 160,000. Because of increasing demand at home and abroad, further growth of papermaking industry is expected.
Taiwan has an abundant supply of raw materials for papermaking. Only about 10 per cent of the annual production of 1,500,000 metric tons of bagasse and 2,500,000 metric tons of straw is used in the paper industry. The 2,000,000 hectares of forests contribute less than 5 per cent of bamboo and wood production to papermaking.
Taiwan has a high rate of literacy (above 96 per cent) and a growing demand for industrial packaging materials. This guarantees a steady domestic market for paper products. Decreased production in Norway, Sweden and Finland is leading to increased export possibilities.
There are some 70 paper mills in Taiwan, making everything from toilet tissue to decorative butterfly paper. To expand sales, the producers have organized a joint export organization, the China Paper Trading Corporation. In 1963, it sold about US$5 million worth of paper products abroad. Major buyers were the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and Malaysia. In 1964, the figure rose to US$6 million.
To meet the competition of Southeast Asian countries that are establishing their own paper industries, Taiwan is producing more sophisticated papers requiring advanced techniques.
Local products are replacing such papers and pulps as wood pulp, kraft and sulfite pulp, cellophane yarn, coated paper, wall paper, labels and matrix board, all of which had to be imported before 1963. However, the island will still depend on imports for document bond paper, drawing paper, bank notes and high quality cigarette paper.
Trade Fairs
The Republic of China held a large trade fair in Guayaquil, Ecuador, December 26-January 8 to promote trade with Latin America.
The fair was opened by Chinese Ambassador to Ecuador Joseph Ku and Ecuador Minister of Commerce and Industry Commander Wilfrido Freile. More than 300 government officials and business leaders attended the opening ceremony.
The fair exhibited agricultural implements, electrical appliances, canned foods, machinery and tools, textiles, chemicals and handicrafts. After closing, the commodities were moved on to Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay for further display.
The Foreign Exchange and Trade Commission in Taipei announced in December last year that five permanent showrooms will be opened at Sao Paulo, Lima, Asuncion, Guayaquil and Bogota to exhibit Taiwan products. A transshipping station has been established in Colon, a free trade zone in Panama, and two more will be opened in Lima and Guayaquil.
To facilitate trade with Latin America, FETC said two Chinese shipping companies, the Eddie Steamship Company and the China Union Lines Ltd., have assigned two freighters each to the run. This will mean from 8 to 12 voyages a year.
Taiwan monosodium glutamate producers have decided to sell their product to Latin America at unitary price. Their manufactures will be packed under the trademark "Shou Shin", which means "God of Longevity."
The Taiwan Fertilizer Company will export some 30,000 tons of chemical fertilizers to Latin America at a unitary price. Their dude cement, round steel bars, aluminum manufactures, steel pipe, agricultural implements, plywood, sewing machines, refrigerators, electric fans, textiles, chemicals and plastics products.
P. Y. Hsu, chairman of the Foreign Exchange and Trade Commission, who led trade missions to South and Central America last year, said the Republic of China already has bought US$8 million worth of commodities from Latin America and US$4 million from Central America. He said the Chinese government's trade policy toward Latin America is to buy first and sell later.
Addressing an American University Club luncheon in Taipei, Hsu said commodities purchased from Latin America are needed by Taiwan industry and that CIF costs are not higher than the prevailing world market price. Items included cotton, wheat, corn, sulfur, gypsum, hides, molasses, coffee and soybeans.
The Chinese government has reached a tentative decision that for 1965, Taiwan will purchase soybeans from Latin America only. Large quantities of raw cotton also will be bought.
Common Market Buying
Taiwan has increased its agricultural exports to the Common Market sharply, the newly established Taiwan Agricultural Foreign Market Research Center reports.
The center said that for the first half of 1964, Taiwan sold US$13,110,000 worth of agricultural products to the Common Market as compared with US$9,655,000 worth in the same period of 1963.
The products included sugar, tea, citronella oil, canned pineapple, feathers, bamboo shoots, canned mushrooms, preserved fruits and vegetables.
Most of the sugar and tea was sold to Holland. West Germany was the big buyer of citronella oil, canned mushrooms, preserved fruits, vegetables, canned pineapple, and bamboo shoots.
Of exports to the Common Market, agricultural products make up about 75 per cent. For 1961, sales were US$10,265,000 of which 76.9 per cent were agricultural products. Subsequent figures were US$16,078,000 and 75 per cent in 1962, US$14,417,000 and 78.5 per cent in 1963, and in the first half of 1964, US$16,829,000 and 78 per cent.
The Common Market is an important purchaser of many agricultural commodities. In the first half of 1964, Taiwan exported US$11,267,000 worth of canned mushrooms, of which 60.5 per cent went to the Common Market. In citronella oil exports totaling US$2,700,000, the Common Market share was 47.1 per cent; feathers, US$1,087,000 and 35.8 per cent; canned pineapple, US$5,082,000 and 27.5 per cent.
The Agricultural Foreign Market Research Center was established only a few months ago by several government and private organizations.
Silk Production Plan
The Taiwan Silk Corporation reports it has begun a project to expand silk production. Two thousand rural laborers in 500 families of northern Taiwan will engage in mulberry tree cultivation.
The company says it has received orders from Gerli & Co. of the United States for a minimum of 6,000 bales (132 pounds each) of raw silk a year. Price will be US$4 million.
The expansion project will involve a planted area of some 1,400 hectares. At present Taiwan grows mulberry trees only in a few scattered areas and produces 300 bales of raw silk a year.
Paolino Gerli, president of Gerli & Co., visited Taiwan last May. He said development of sericulture in Taiwan should be profitable because of marginal land suitable for mulberry trees and because of the booming international silk market.
Taiwan also has disadvantages. Climate is too hot and humid for the temperate silkworm.
The Sericulture Promotion Section of the Provincial Agricultural Experimental Station is cross-breeding local silkworms with the hardy Thai variety.