The Republic of China registered record trade volume in 1965 as the economy continued to boom.
It was the first billion-dollar trade year (US$1,043 million), a gain of 25 per cent over 1964 and an increase of 400 per cent since 1960.
Statistics compiled by the Bank of Taiwan show exports of US$488 million and imports of US$555 million.
Despite a drastic cut of US$67 million in foreign exchange earnings from sugar, the largest export item, the export total still was US$25 million above 1964 level.
Imports increased sharply—US$155 million or a 35.3 per cent rise. The principal reason was the need for industrial raw materials and equipment required for economic development.
P. Y. Hsu, chairman of the Foreign Exchange and Trade Commission, has predicted a continuing increase in trade volume this year. He said imports may be at about the 1965 level, but that exports should forge ahead as a result of increased production.
Hsu said that as a result of finding new markets, Taiwan is doing business with more than 60 countries of the free world. Of last year's trade volume of US$1,043 million, Japan was the first with US$350 million, the United States second with US$280 million, and Germany third with US$50 million.
Industrial exports continue to climb. Including such items as textiles, metal manufactures and chemicals, this category made up 41.32 per cent of the total. The 1964 percentage was 39.86; that of 1961 was only 31.46.
Processed agricultural products made up 27.21 per cent of exports in 1965 versus 40.38 per cent in 1964. Sugar accounted for the decline. Raw agricultural exports showed a sizable increase.
About 80 per cent of 1965 imports was in the form of capital equipment and industrial raw materials. There was a decline in imports of consumer goods because of the increase in local production.
Major exports were generally the same as in 1964. The leading items were still sugar, textiles, bananas, timber products (mostly plywood), rice, metal manufactures, chemicals, canned mushrooms, and canned pineapple.
In 1964, four items accrued a value of more than US$30 million—sugar, textiles, timber products, and bananas. In 1965, the number increased to six, with rice and metal manufactures added.
Principal imports were unchanged. Five of the 50 items made up 50 per cent of the total. They were ores, metals and manufactures; machinery and tools; vessels, vehicles and parts; raw cotton; and wheat and flour.
Total trade was US$170 million more than in 1964. Three factors were involved: (1) the Vietnam war, (2) development of export processing industries, and (3) government trade promotion efforts.
As a result of the unprecedented economic prosperity, three foreign banks opened branches and one expanded an existing branch in Taiwan last year. The new branches are those of the First National City Bank of New York, Bank of America of San Francisco, and Bangkok Bank of Thailand. The expanded branch is that of the Kangyo Bank of Tokyo.
Harbors and airports were busy last year because of larger cargoes and a record number of passengers. The two major seaports, Keelung and Kaohsiung, were congested. The Philippine Air Lines began flights to Taipei. Other international airlines increased the number of their flights to Taipei.
The Taiwan Visitors Association reported that tourists exceeded 130,000 in 1965, a 40 per cent rise over the previous year. This gave Taiwan invisible foreign exchange earnings of more than US$14 million, excluding the spending of American soldiers who came from Vietnam in a rest and re creation program.
This year is expected to be better in every regard. As projects now under way contribute to the economy, an even more dramatic boom appears assured.
Mushroom, Rice Exports
The Federal Republic of Germany bought more than half of Taiwan's canned mushroom exports in 1965, according to a report of the Taiwan Agricultural Foreign Market Research Center.
Of US$20,804,000 in exports, West Germany bought US$11,192,000, accounting for 53.8 per cent. The 1965 sales to Germany marked a 20.4 per cent increase as compared with the US$9,287,000 in 1964.
The United States was the second largest buyer in 1965 with US$6,268,000 worth. Other big buyers were Holland, Canada, and Singapore.
Taiwan sold Japan 150,000 metric tons of rice for the first half of 1966. At the price of US$167.50 per ton, f.o.b. Keelung, earnings total US$25 million.
The rice bought by Japan is of the Ponlai variety, the best produced in Taiwan. Shipment started in April and is to be completed in August.
The sale was concluded when Li Lien-chun, director of the Taiwan Provincial Food Bureau, was in Japan in March. He reported the price was a problem, because it is US$7.58 a ton higher than the average for rice supplied by the Chinese Communists.
The price is also US$4.5 per ton higher than that for Taiwan rice supplied Japan last July. At that time, Japan bought 125,000 metric tons from Taiwan at US$163 per ton.
In March an agreement was reached at Tokyo under which Japan will buy 4,300,000 baskets of bananas from Taiwan in April, May, and June. This is the second purchase this year. The first, for January-March, was of 1,140,000 baskets.
For the second sale, the Republic of China agreed to lower the price of the Taichung variety to US$7 per basket, c.i.f. Japan. Previously Taiwan sold bananas to Japan at US$8 per basket for the Taichung variety and US$7 per basket for the Kaoshiung variety.
Taiwan has sold Japan 5,440,000 baskets of bananas this year, earning about US$40 million.
Kuala Lumpur Fair
A sizable Chinese trade fair was held at Kuala Lumpur from April 16 to May 5. This was another step in promoting trade relations between the Republic of China and the Federation of Malaysia.
More than 200 Taiwan manufacturers sent display goods. There were such categories as canned foods, metal manufactures, textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electrical appliances, plastics, and paper and pulp.
The fair long had been urged by Chinese and Malaysian trade officials and businessmen. It was finally scheduled last December after a successful Chinese trade fair in Jesselton, the capital of Malaysia's Sabah state.
Since establishment of a Chinese consulate at Kuala Lumpur in November, 1964, trade between the Republic of China and the Federation of Malaysia has increased. Many trade officials and businessmen have exchanged visits, among them Mohammed Bin Ambak, president of Malaysia's Chamber of Commerce, and T. H. Tan, president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce at Kuala Lumpur.
The Chinese government sent a trade officer to Malaysia in January. Liu Chiu-yeh, acting as vice consul of the Chinese consulate at Kuala Lumpur, is responsible for promoting trade contacts.
The Kuala Lumpur fair was welcomed by Chinese living there. This was the first time they had had opportunity to see a display of Taiwan products. The fair at Jesselton was visited by more than 70,000 Chinese, although the city itself has a Chinese population of only 30,000.
A report from Melbourne said Chinese participation in the international trade fair there was a success. The fair opened March 2. A unique octagonal, palace-style prefabricated China pavilion exhibited Taiwan pro ducts, mostly bamboo and wooden manufactures.
The Republic of China was represented at the Tripoli international trade fair in Libya in March. This was the third Chinese participation at Tripoli. Exhibits included both agricultural and industrial products.
The China Productivity and Trade Center reports that it is responsible for Chinese attendance in two international exhibitions this year. One is the fair at Izmir, Turkey, August 20-September 20, and the other at Bari, Italy, September 7-20.
New Nylon Plant
A new man-made fiber producer began operations on March 15, marking another advance toward a sophisticated textile industry in the Republic of China.
The nylon plant of the Lien Yu Industrial Factory Corporation was opened by Minister of Economic Affairs K.T. Li. It has annual capacity of two million pounds of nylon filament and 500,000 pounds of nylon stretch yarn. The company has two other plants for the production of polyester and poly-propylene filament that will be completed in August.
Capitalized at NT$200 million, or US$5 million, the Lien Yu Industrial Factory Corporation is the largest enterprise in the Liutu Industrial District, first of its kind in this country. It is located near Keelung, the northern international harbor.
With technical assistance from the United States and Germany, the company has obtained plant area of 800,000 square feet, or one eighth of the total in the Liutu district. It has 42 staff members, mostly college graduates, and 304 workers.
Lien Yu is the second enterprise in Taiwan to produce nylon filament. The first was the United Nylon Corporation, which began operations in October, 1964. When its new plants are completed, Lien Yu will become the second polyester fiber and the first polypropylene producer in the country. For producing polyester fiber, the China Man-Made Fiber Corporation has already completed a plant.
Taiwan has a fast-growing man-made fiber industry. Beginning with the April, 1959, completion of the China Man-Made Fiber Corporation's first plant for the production of rayon filament, the island now has three large enterprises to supply both cellulosic and synthetic fibers. The Industrial Development and Investment Center has predicted that by 1968 Taiwan's textile industry will be dominated by man-made fibers.
With the opening of the Lien Yu plant, the Liutu Industrial District now has 20 enterprises in production of a total of 38. There are 6 factories for iron, steel and manufactures; 4 making plastic flowers and toys; 3 each making chemicals and tools; 2 each making wooltop, canned food, frozen food, man-made fibers, packing materials, carbide and garments; and 1 each making pharmaceuticals, electronic components, and public health supplies.
The Liutu district, 20 kilometers from the capital city of Taipei and 8 kilometers from the port city of Keelung, is an area of 60 hectares, or some 6.4 million square feet. Already installed are such facilities as water-works, waste-water disposal plant, power station, railroad, highway, and drainage systems. The land has been sold or leased to investors at low prices. Total investment by the government is NT$60 million or US$1.5 million.
Advantages include payment of the land price in installments, easy procedures for the acquisition of land, provision of standard factory buildings, good transportation, an abundant supply of power, and fuel, low-cost skilled and semi-skilled labor, and banking, warehousing, and telecommunications services.
As a result of the Liutu success, the government is building several other industrial estates, including the Kaohsiung export processing zone at the mouth of Kaohsiung harbor in southern Taiwan.
The government in March announced the completion of two new industrial districts in Taiwan. They are the Tingkan district of 13 hectares near Taipei and the Kweishan district of 29 hectares near Taoyuan.
Construction was started only last July. Water works, power stations, drainage systems, and communications have been completed.
The government has approved 31 investment projects for Tinkan and 26 for Kweishan. The factories to be built in Tingkan include 14 for making iron and steel products, 5 each for dyeing and finishing and making plastic goods, 3 each for making chemicals and canning foods, and 1 for making paper manufactures. The plants in Kweishan will include 6 each making plastics and textiles, 3 for making chemicals, 2 each for making feeds and pharmaceuticals, and 5 for other products.
Sugar Production
The Taiwan Sugar Corporation has estimated that 1966 production may equal last year's record of 1,000,000 metric tons. M. H. Yuan, its president, says output will increase after an expansion program is completed in 1967.
Taisugar is the largest government enterprise in Taiwan, operating 25 sugar mills, 3,151 kilometers of railway, 49,916 hectares of plantation, and by-product plants supplying alcohol, yeast, bagasse board, particle board, canned pineapple, and soybean oil. Contract farms total 70,603 hectares.
In an annual report of its operations last year, Taisugar reports that its present capitalization is NT$2,880 million, or US$72 million. The capital is divided into 57,600,000 shares with a par value of NT$50 each. Market price is NT$160 per share.
The company has 17,056 employees on its payroll but the number of persons affected by its production is about a million. In addition to various production units, the company operates an experimental station with 36 laboratories.
Planted area of sugar of 1965 stood at 100,825.43 hectares. Cane varieties include the F146, developed by the company itself with a per hectare yield of 124,985 kilograms, and N:Co 310, introduced from South Africa with a per hectare yield of 78,610 kilograms. The varieties are adapted to different environ mental conditions.
The 25 sugar mills have a total daily capacity of 57,200 metric tons. Through defecation or carbonation processes, products include raw sugar with a polarization of 97.3 per cent and the fine superior white crystal sugar with polarization of 99.5 per cent. In the factories there are 7 turbine generators, 17 boilers, 87 centrifuges, 5 mill turbines, 37 heaters, 28 evaporators, 19 vacuum pans, 15 Dorr clarifiers, and 9 olive filters.
Foreign sales in 1965 totaled US$68 million, down by 50 per cent as compared with the US$135 million of 1964. The decrease in value was caused by a sharp price slump in the international market. Largest buyers were Japan and the United States.
Pest Control
Rice production can be increased by as much as 35 per cent as a result of improved pest control.
This was announced by the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction in March after a four-year experimental project.
Beginning in 1962, a total of 343 pest control demonstration teams, each consisting of 50 farmers, was organized in 156 town ships. The teams combated blast and virus diseases as well as stem borers, plant-hoppers, leafhoppers, sheath and bacterial leaf blights.
The control work is connected with the rice pest forecasting system, under which seven field stations are to be established this year. Agricultural school graduates are being employed as forecast observers.
JCRR also announced in March that it is carrying out a crop management test at Nantou in central Taiwan. On a piece of land between lowlands and mountains, JCRR is introducing four rotational cropping patterns.
The Sino-American agricultural organization has a new consultant to help Taiwan farmers improve marketing of oranges, bananas, onions, and other fruits and vegetables. He is F. R. Wilcox, former general manager of Sunkist Growers, Los Angeles.
The Chinese government in March invited a German expert to give advice on cattle disease prevention. Dr. Karl Schmidt, professor of the Free University of Berlin, will stay here 18 months carrying out research and teaching.