Two Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers urged the Fair Trade Commission yesterday to rein in what they called price rigging and market monopolization by cement makers.
Legislators Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) and Chen Chin-teh (陳金德) made the call at a joint news conference.
According to Tuan, cement consumption declined from 24.05 million tonnes in 1994 to 13.75 million tonnes last year and the production capacity utilization rate also fell from 95 percent to 65 percent during the same period.
However, Tuan said, the price of cement has not fallen as well. The price has skyrocketed in the past three years from NT$1,300 per tonne to NT$2,250.
Tuan claimed that cement manu-facturers have monopolized the market and rigged the price by preventing imports of lower-priced cement from the Philippines and South Korea, imposing a quota control system on storage facilities at various wharves and other acts.
Tuan claimed cement makers have colluded to cut production to create a false "short supply" phenomenon. They have also exported their "surplus" abroad at the low price of NT$761 per tonne, he said.
Tuan said cement makers' monopoly and price rigging measures have increased consumer prices, housing prices, public construction costs and have even hindered economic growth and progress in typhoon-stricken regions.
Tuan demanded that the commission launch a probe.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS