Taipei, Dec. 23, 2010 (CENS)–Taiwan`s overall listed firms recognized NT$131.26 billion in earnings from investments in China in the first three quarters of 2010, representing a 42.33% year-on-year growth, according to the latest statistics compiled by the Investment Commission under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

A high-ranking official of the Investment Commission estimated the overall earnings scored by domestic listed firms from their Investments in China will be able to exceed NT$150.2 billion registered in 2009 because of the promising economic outlook for the fourth quarter.

The same tallies showed that domestic firms invested US$10.167 billion in China in the first 11 months of 2010, up 113.55% from a year earlier. Of the total, newly launched investment projects accounted for US$3.879 billion, or 38.15% of the total, with the majority of the remainder going to capital-increment projects at US$6.288 billion, or about 60%.

The top-50 firms approved to invest in China in the first 11 months in terms of investment value mainly came from the sectors of electronic parts, light emitting diode (LED), petrochemical, automobile, cement, real estate, glass, machinery, distributor and financial.

Electronic parts and LED were the largest investment sectors in the first 11 months as manufacturers were ambitious in expanding deployment in China to enjoy the massive domestic market demand there. These two sectors invested US$4.4 billion in China in the first 11 months of 2010, with Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. accounting for 30%, or US$1.206 billion.

As Taiwan government has deregulated China-bound investments by financial firms, five major domestic banks, including Bank of Taiwan, First Bank, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, Chang Hwa Bank and Hua Nan Bank, invested US$276 million combined in China in the first 11 months of 2010.

In light of the signing of the cross-Taiwan Strait ECFA (economic cooperation framework agreement), some industries, including automobile, distributor and medium- and downstream petrochemical, are also increasing investments in China to ride on the fast-growing domestic market demand there.

(by Ben Shen)