As global prices of raw materials climb, consumer prices are heading up despite major retailers' efforts to keep price tags unchanged, the Fair Trade Commission said yesterday.
The commission conducted pricing checks in hypermarkets including Carrefour Taiwan and RT-Mart (大潤發) over the past two days to see whether the prices of milk powder, soy beans, flour, cooking oil and instant noodles have surged abnormally as recently reported in local Chinese-language media.
The commission also visited a major beef importer and the Taipei City egg association to check their pricing schemes.
"Due to fierce competition, hypermarkets have promised they willl keep prices stable for fear of losing customers as the two major promotional periods, Dragon Boat Festival and Ghost Festival, are approaching," said Chou Ya-shu (周雅淑), a member of the commission.
Carrefour claimed yesterday it would keep prices stable and called on the public not to panic.
"There is no need to hoard commodities as unlikely to hike prices," Dream Lin (林夢紹), the retailer's public relations manager said.
However, as some leading food suppliers have demanded price increases to reflect their rising costs, Chou said convenience stores and supermarkets might be forced to adjust their prices.
President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), operator of the 7-Eleven franchise, said it has no plans to raise prices except for seasonal hikes on milk, public relations official Amy Luan (欒美雲) said.
Chou stressed that if prices do increase because of rising costs or imbalanced supply and demand, it would be a natural response under the market mechanism.
But the commission will keep an eye on whether suppliers or retailers are engaging in price fixing or bidding up prices on purpose, she said. Such practices can incur fines of up to NT$25 million (US$750,000), according to Article 41 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法).
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
SKEPTICAL: An economist said it is possible US and Chinese officials would walk away from the meeting saying talks were productive, without reducing tariffs at all US President Donald Trump hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations, ahead of a second day of talks yesterday between top officials from Washington and Beijing aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by his aggressive tariff rollout. In a Truth Social post early yesterday, Trump praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner.” The second day of closed-door meetings between US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) were due to restart yesterday morning, said a person familiar
RSS