Auto-parts Makers Ta Yih and Kian Shen Optimistic About Export This Year

Taipei, June 26, 2012 (CENS)--Two Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE)-listed auto-parts makers, Ta Yih Industrial Co. and Kian Shen Metal Works Co., Ltd., expressed optimism toward export growth this year, especially to China, at the recent shareholders meeting.

Ta Yih is the largest original equipment (OE) auto-lamp supplier in Taiwan. Huang I-Fang, company president, said at the above meeting that, due to benefits of the prioritized duty-reduction achieved by the cross-Taiwan Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), auto-lamp exports to China will continue to increase, and that Ta Yih expects revenues and profits to rise 15% to 20% this year.

Huang added that Ta Yih will raise investing in production in Taiwan and exports mainly from Taiwan, and that exports are expected to account for about 40% of Ta Yih's revenue, with the proportion expected to rise to 50% by 2013.

Ta Yih will also strive to maintain high market share in the local OE auto-lamp market, as well as more aggressively develop international sales, specifically win more orders from the Japanese shareholder Koito, a major international tier-one parts supplier, for auto lamps and tooling, Huang said.

Orders from Japan, the U.S. and the Middle East have been increasing clearly, and Ta Yih has begun shipments of auto lamps for over 10 new models worldwide through Koito's global sales channels. In China, Ta Yih supplies lamps to Chinese automakers Changchun FAW and South East (Fujian) Motor Co., Ltd. (SEM), and has added a new customer GAIG-Fiat. The president added that monthly shipments to American Chrysler have reached 13,000 sets to help drive sales for Ta Yih.

Kian Shen's chairman said that the company's Taiwan factory will focus on supplying chassis to Chinese automakers this year, with new customers in China expected to further fuel revenue this year, with the chassis maker aggressively developing frames for low-chassis buses, electric buses and medium-sized buses.

The company's new factory in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China is to be completed by year-end and start mass production in the first quarter of 2013.