At the Executive Yuan's price stabilization task force meeting today, Vice Premier Chang San-cheng asked government agencies to make sure that commodity prices reflect the decline in international oil prices. Specifically:
1. Bring transportation and gas costs in line with falling oil prices:
As international crude oil prices have been dropping since June, government agencies should actively implement measures to lower the price of daily necessities such as transportation, gasoline, diesel and gas.
a. Transportation:
Lower gasoline and diesel prices directly affect the costs of transportation in Taiwan. Hence, airline carriers have reduced the fuel surcharge on international flights beginning November 12. As for transportation within Taiwan, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) has asked domestic airlines, bus companies and shipping companies to review and adjust their fares accordingly. The reduced transport fares are expected to take effect around mid-January 2015 but the actual amount of reduction will depend on how far crude oil prices have fallen.
b. Gasoline and diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), liquefied natural gas (LNG):
In response to the plunge in global crude oil prices, state-run enterprises under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) have coordinated to lower the prices of gas and fuel prices.
• CPC Corp., Taiwan's prices for 92-, 95- and 98-octane unleaded gasoline have been cut to below NT$30 (US$0.97) per liter, while that for premium diesel has been reduced to NT$22.9 per liter.
• Prices for LPG (contained in cylinders) have been lowered by NT$4.15 or 12.7 percent per kilogram, and for LNG by NT$2.63 or 13.4 percent per cubic meter.
• Taiwan Power Co. is expected to make a profit this year and is reviewing fuel costs to give back some of that profit to households and small businesses.
c. Sugar, salad oil, meat and other staples:
The MOEA is monitoring price fluctuations in staple foods such as sugar and salad oil. Businesses are urged to adjust prices to reflect reduced costs and benefit consumers.
• The suggested retail price of Taiwan Sugar Corp.'s small sugar packs is expected to be cut by NT$1 beginning January 2015. The retail price of 18-liter salad oil will remain the lowest on the market. Prices of large and small packs of frozen pork have dropped by an average of 5 percent since November 27 this year.
d. Milk powder:
Regarding recent media reports that domestic milk powder prices have risen despite declines in prices internationally, officials clarified that the "international (whole or skim) milk powder" in the reports referred to unprocessed milk powder for baking or processing purposes, which differs from the adult or baby milk powder sold on markets. Investigations have found that the prices of such baking-purpose milk powder in Taiwan have indeed dropped in line with the international trend.
Rising prices of adult or baby milk powder sold in Taiwan this year was mainly attributable to an increase in import costs. According to the Ministry of Finance's Customs Administration, in the first 10 months of 2014, the average import price for infant formula (for babies under 1 year old) grew by 10 percent year-on-year, while that for adult milk powder (for persons over 1 year old) rose 13 percent. The price of infant formula sold domestically increased by around 5 percent, while the price of adult milk powder generally held steady and rose no faster than its import costs.
To protect consumers' rights and bring milk powder prices in line with profits, the government will urge businesses to use electronic invoices and will disclose milk powder trading prices online (without revealing suppliers' names). This is meant to allow citizens to monitor the fairness of retail prices. Businesses found guilty of colluding on price-fixing will be punished by the Fair Trade Commission.
2. Offer real-time commodity price information
With the public concerned about the availability of price information and the government seeking to improve its commodity price inquiry website, the Executive Yuan's price stabilization task force will take the following actions:
• Provide commodity prices in open data format: To the extent possible, the task force will publicize information collected from relevant agencies in the form of open data. The information will be available for the public to download, analyze and put to other uses.
• Establish a commodity price bulletin: To provide the public with a real-time, user-friendly commodity price checking platform, the task force will set up a single portal that integrates the price inquiry websites of relevant agencies.