State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it hoped the new government would adopt a more reasonable energy policy by scrapping the four-month-long approach of freezing local fuel prices in an attempt to stop widening losses.
"The price of oil is not the only thing to blame for rising consumer prices," Liao Tsang-long (廖滄龍), deputy director of industrial relations for CPC, said by telephone yesterday. "We hope the government will seek a more reasonable solution. The oil price should be decided by the market mechanism."
The CPC is expected to post less of NT$20 billion (US$654.7 million) in the first three months and to expand to NT$42 billion in the first half of the year, if the oil retail price stays at the current level.
Without a rate increase to compensate for the hike in fuel costs, the state utility, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower,
Taipower last raised its rates by 5.8 percent in July 2006, which was the only increase since 1983.
"It is not common for oil companies like CPC to post constant massive losses," Liao said.
The fuel price measures did not accomplish the CPC's goal of easing price pressure on the public, he said, as the government subsidized big oil consumers, not average consumers.
The company's remarks came ahead of a Ministry of Economic Affairs meeting this week to review the government's oil price policy. The new measure will take effect on April 1, a ministry official said yesterday.
"The ministry will come out with a decision in a meeting next [this] week," the official, who requested anonymity, said.
The Central News Agency said earlier yesterday that the ministry was considering ending the price freeze measure and resuming the mechanism of fluctuation based on global oil prices.
The report also said that the CPC may raise fuel prices as high as NT$4 per liter to make up its losses over the past few months.
Liao declined to comment yesterday on the speculation, saying that the range of price hikes is up to the government.
If the CPC decided to allow its fuel prices to fully reflect the rise in costs, it would drive the prices of 95 unleaded gasoline, the most popular gasoline, from NT$30.7 per liter to NT$34.7 per liter.
In November, the government ordered CPC to hold its fuel prices unchanged, beginning in December, after the consumer price index (CPI) increased to a 13-year high in October.
In the first two months, the CPI reading has increased an average of 3.42 percent from a year ago, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said earlier this month.
The inflation benchmark is expected to expand 3.89 percent for the full year, the agency said.
President Chen Shui-bian's (
More changes, however, are expected, as president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (
Also see: EDITORIAL: Ma faces many challenges
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) have repeatedly hit new highs, but an equity analyst said the stock’s valuation remains within a reasonable range and any pullback would likely be technical. The contract chipmaker’s historical price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has ranged between 20 and 30, Cathay Futures Consultant Co (國泰證期) analyst Tsai Ming-han (蔡明翰) told Central News Agency. With market consensus projecting that TSMC would post earnings per share of about NT$100 (US$3.17) this year, supported by strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and the stock currently trading at a P/E ratio of below 25, Tsai said the valuation
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
RSS