Investments in Taiwan's EPZs up 21.6% in 2004

Taipei, Jan. 19, 2005 (CEBS)--Total new investment and capital increment in Taiwan's export processing zones amounted to NT$36.16 billion (US$1.064 billion at US$1 = NT$34) in 2004, soaring 21.6% from 2003 and reaching 120.55% of the goal of NT$30 billion (US$882.35 million) for the year, according to statistics compiled by the Export Processing Zone Administration (EPZA) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

During the year, EPZA approved some 46 new investment cases valued at NT$890 million (US$26.18 million) and 77 capital increment cases at NT$27.97 billion (NT$822.65 million). To strategically develop Taiwan's key industries, EPZA has assisted two processing zones in southern Taiwan, one in Nantze and the other in Kaohsiung, in housing high-tech manufacturers, with the former mainly for those engaged in semiconductor packaging and testing operations and the latter for the liquid crystal display (LCD) industry. And the processing zone in Taichung, central Taiwan, will be mainly for optical and electronic industries.

In the first 10 months of last year, high-tech industries in export processing zones generated production value of NT$216.128 billion (US$6.36 billion), a sharp rise of 26.33% from the corresponding figure of 2003 and accounting for 72.57% of the total output value recorded by all such zones around the island.

During the same period, the processing zone in Nantze recorded revenues of NT$124.953 billion (US$3.68 billion), while the ones in Kaohsiung and Taichung raked in revenues of NT$47.896 billion (US$1.41 billion) and NT$43.279 billion (US$1.27 billion), respectively.

In the full year of 2004 Taiwan's export processing zones generated total revenues of NT$360 billion (US$10.59 billion), up 18.27% from the corresponding figure of a year earlier. EPZA attributed the stable revenue growth of the island's export processing zones to their successful transformation in both structure and function in recent years. Today the ratio of capital funneled into such zones by foreign and domestic investors now stands at 1 : 4 from 4 : 1 long posted in the past.

This year EPZA plans to actively promote the development of processing zones in central and southern Taiwan and projects investment capital to be absorbed in the zones at NT$34.5 billion (US$1.015 billion), up 15% from last year's projection target of NT$30 billion (US$882.35 million).