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ABOUT US
F
ormosan Business Support Co. Ltd.
ed. When it comes to doing business in
(FBS) is a business consultancy and
Western countries, principles of ‘law and
business service provider enterprise. The overall goal is to assist companies, in particular SMEs, with handling every single detail that will enable them to enter the Taiwan market. Once successfully established and operating there, FBS will help expand the business into other markets in Asia including Japan, Korea, Greater China, India and other ASEAN member states. FBS was founded in 2012 as ‘Fernost Handelsagentur Agentur’ (English trans-
order ’ and a ‘contract’ are what most people look to. However, in Asia, the principles referred to as ‘Guanxi’ and ‘Kimoji’ mean that a personal relationship is predominantly more important than any signed contract. We saw the frustration many Western business people had in doing business in Taiwan and our goal is, and always has been to assist in this process and make sure that a relationship is built and maintained. This has to be done locally, it cannot be done at a distance.
lation: Far Eastern Trading Agency). We quickly learned that a local presence in the Taiwan market was urgently need-
Formosan Business Support is experienced and provides local expertise in:
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S
Project Management
Legal Matters
Sourcing & Design
Exhibition Services
Logistics & Consultancy
Business Foundation
Negotiations
Localization
Trading
Mediation
ince 90% of business activities are export
ers in the market, FBS is confident enough to
oriented, FBS has gained highly valuable
offer its services to all players in the market
know-how over the years, particularly in Eu-
from foundation, substation, offshore cabling,
rope, Taiwan, and North-East Asia.
and EPCIs. We can also assist with financial and
FBS joined the Offshore Wind Industry after the
investment bank consultancy.
new elected Tsai administration announced its
FBS has a very close relationship with the local
goal to reach 20% of energy generation from
supply chain and also many banks in Taiwan,
renewable energy sources. After joining the
all built upon personal friendship and mutual
WindEnergy Summit in Hamburg, Germany,
trust. FBS has no commercial relationship with
we brought on board our first client in this in-
the government or its institutions, but main-
dustry, Global Renewable Shipbrokers GmbH,
tains close contact for information exchange
which is Europe’s leading broker specializing in
and communication.
offshore wind, tidal and wave power.
FBS is a private limited company, having no out-
FBS has used its experiences of other infrastruc-
side influence or other interests and investments.
ture projects to predict the development of this
We are here solely for the benefit of our clients.
new industry. Now in 2019, after three years of close observation and interaction with all play-
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The Taiwan Offshore Wind Industry
T
he industry in Taiwan is different to many other places in the Asia-Pacific region. Taiwan has conducted some surveys, salvage operations and tug boating, but they have
no offshore experience or established industry to speak of. The decision to develop offshore wind was made in part because 70% of Taiwan’s landmass is mountainous. The remaining 30% landmass, after Bangladesh, has the highest population density. Current onshore wind projects are very limited in scope and located near less populated areas of the coastline. Offshore wind energy gained attention after the former ‘Infrawest GmbH’ carried out a study concerning the wind conditions present in the Taiwan Strait. The study showed that Taiwan has one of the strongest and most steady wind streams in the world. There, the heat of the Equator meets the Japanese, Siberian cold current resulting in strong winds that are absolutely ideal for wind energy production. Following further studies provided by ITRI, the Tsai administration set a goal aimed at harvesting over 5 Gigawatts of energy from this natural phenomenon. Similar to Germany in 2009, Taiwan has had a rough start. However, unlike Germany, Taiwan suffers not from the burden of over regulation, but actually under regulation. Another important factor is that Taiwan currently has no supply chain in their neighborhood like Germany. Any shipment, whether industrial equipment, or completed sections of wind turbines, takes at least 6 months to travel from Europe to Taiwan and there are very few ports able to handle such oversized cargo.
D
espite all the obstacles, many international developers joined the market as pioneers like newcomers Swancor Renewables, Macquarie Capitol, WPD, Ă˜rsted, CIP, Northland
Power, Yushan etc. This clearly shows the requirement for new projects and markets for these global players. In Taiwan in November 2018, a landslide election and referendum in favor of the opposing KMT government resulted in a huge wake up call for the Tsai administration. The government hopes to not please the developers or MNEs, but to benefit the local market (read votes here) to continue developing the industry. In December of the same year, the change in feed-in-tariff caused media uproar focused centrally on the conflict between the international developers and the Ministry of Economic Affairs. It resulted in a complete media blackout of other important and relevant news stories. One such example was the first 100% privately owned geothermal power plant erected in Taitung that sells its electricity not through the state owned Taipower Corporation, but through a start-up company generating even higher tariff rates for local developers than Taipower could ever offer. In 2019, FBS is 100% certain the industry will go forward with delays, because the industry needs to grow and other Asian nations like Japan and Korea are keeping a close eye on Taiwan’s development. Taiwan is not Germany and Asia is not Europe. Only the ones who are able to adapt and localize can sustain themselves in the Taiwan market. Taiwan still has one of the most open and free markets in Asia, allowing international organizations to be a local developer, EPCI and supplier, but how this gets done remains a big mysterious to Western companies. How it gets done is precisely what the role of Formosan Business Support is here to fulfill. Welcome to the Taiwan and Asian markets!
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What Can Formosan Business Support Do For You?
O
ur core business is bringing international businesses to the local Taiwan market, and then from Taiwan to other parts in Asia.
After three years of observation and experience we are in a position to analyze what can possibly wrong or has gone wrong, and what can and cannot be done. In general, there is no ‘one-solution-fits-all’ and there is always an ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ solution for each segment of the industry. Localization has to be carried out if your company wants a share of the pie. We can say unequivocally that nobody can do business from a distance. Your company needs to be represented here in Taiwan or nobody is going to place their trust in you or take you seriously. The initial period of allowing 100% imports for Formosa One and Two are over.
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Therefore, we can offer the following to every segment of the industry:
1. Agent and representation business service (sales and marketing). 2. Sourcing local suppliers. If your organization is a sub-contractor, you will still need to rely on local suppliers to complete your project because imports will be prohibited and everything needs to be produced locally. 3. Joint-Venture service. 4. Company, branch, subsidiary set-up including the correct licenses and permits to fulfill your task in Taiwan. 5. Translation service for all your documents and other content required for local companies.
O
f course, depending on your role in the industry, needs change. For example, you may need to know which factory in Taiwan is able to manufacture a
modern Jacket and who has the engineering know-how to build one. It can get very complicated and difficult, but we always find a way to source the hardware locally and software internationally. In the end, it is the result which counts.