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    Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, institutions both domestically and internationally were pessimistic on the overall view in the economic growth of major countries worldwide. With countries gradually lifting restrictions and living with Covid, the global economy has entered a "new norm". But it was hit by geopolitical pressure, including the Russia-Ukraine war, which disrupted the recovery of the global supply chain. Extreme weather events are also driving food and energy crises, exacerbating the impact on the overall economy and leading to sustained high global inflation. The World Economic Forum's "Global Risks Report 2023" has pointed out that the increase in the cost of living will be the most severe risk over the next two years, especially coupling with the inflationary pressures in energy and food prices, which have disproportionately hitting those that can least afford it.

    For most companies in the food industry, 2022 was a year full of challenges with the soaring costs in raw material and shipping, and government efforts to maintain price stability. The industry was faced with product prices that could not timely reflect costs, which resulted in significant operational pressures and profit margin squeeze. Because our company emphasizes risk management, we adjust operational and procuring strategies accordingly to stabilize our supply chain, and improve our product quality; thus, we were able to stay ahead and maintain our competitiveness. Moreover, Charming Food, our subsidiary, was making progress inching with market share. Despite the difficulties, we achieved our annual business goals.

    Moving forward, creating brand value and enhancing brand competitiveness will be our critical success factors in the post-pandemic era. First, we will continue to implement digital transformation, to renovate our Shalu Plant and Taichung Harbor Plant including upgrading hardware equipment, improving the working environment, and launching a new ERP system to integrate internal resources and optimize organizational structure, thus improving work efficiency. Second, in response to the diversified trends of the market, we have adjusted our business strategies and expanded into the B2C market, to meet the increasing consumer demand and enhance brand recognition. Third, with our mission to develop a green business, we will continue to replace energy-saving equipment, adopt energy management systems, conduct greenhouse gas inventories, and expand the scope of application of the circular agriculture economy system.

    Our sustainable efforts have shown some results, as we were awarded the "National Sustainable Development Award" by the Executive Yuan in 2022; the "2021 Agricultural Technology Enterprise Innovation Award" by the Council of Agriculture; and for four consecutive years, we have received the "TCSA Corporate Sustainability Report Award", including two consecutive years of gold awards. We were also selected as one of the "Top 100 Carbon Competitive Enterprises" by Business Today; and we received the "Corporate Sustainability Innovation Award" for the 2022 Food Innovation Awards by FoodNEXT. These recognitions affirm our ESG efforts, and we hope through continuous transformation and ESG performance enhancement to create stable returns for our shareholders and allow Fwusow Industry to continue growing and achieve sustainability in this era of fierce competition.