BOFT to investigate the hoarding of bulk commodities

The Board of Foreign Trade (BOFT) will look into possible hoarding of bulk commodities now that Taiwan, like most other countries around the world, is facing an across-the-board price hike that will hit most pockets.

The BOFT will ask the Cabinet-level Fair Trade Commission to investigate if people have hoarded or illegally jacked-up prices, said BOFT Director-General Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬).

Huang made the remarks at the Legislative Yuan Economics and Energy Committee, where legislators asked him how the government is dealing with the ongoing price hike trend.

Huang reported that price rises in major commodity exchange markets around the world, coupled with rising ocean freight fares, have driven the price of wheat up by 15 percent and the price of corn up by 30 percent.

Checking the inventory list, Huang said, there are about 162,000 tonnes of wheat stored in Taiwan, enough to meet domestic needs for about two months; 700,000 tonnes of corn, sufficient for about six weeks; and 269,000 tonnes of soybeans, sufficient for two months.

To help balance supply and demand, the BOFT will consider opening imports of commodity goods from China on a short-term basis. The first commodities to be opened will include cornflour and soybean flour to be used in animal feed, Huang said.

Lee Chien-chuan (李健全), vice chairman of the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (COA), said at the legislative committee that higher prices for bulk commodities have already started to affect domestic agriculture.