The Ministry of Economic Affairs has asked government agencies to inspect fuel storage facilities at 42 gas stations that have purchased 10 kiloliters more petroleum products per day recently than their daily average for last month, as part of efforts to crack down on illegal gasoline hoarding.
In a bid to forestall any illegal profiteering practices, Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) inspected two gas stations in Taipei County on Monday.
During the inspection, he said that the ministry had asked every city and county government, as well as the Fair Trade Commission, to complete inspections of fuel storage conditions at the 42 gas stations this week.
Yiin said that the ministry would not allow any gasoline stations to hoard petroleum products.
He said those caught hoarding would face fines and that CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) would retrieve the hoarded products from those stations.
CPC statistics indicated that in addition to the 42 stations, about 600 filling stations saw an increase of more than 20 percent in the amount of petroleum products they purchased every day from the state company compared with last month.
Yiin was unwilling to disclose the locations and names of the 42 stations, but said that some stations’ average procurement volumes were even double their procurement last month.
The increase in demand does not mean the 42 stations engaged in illegal hoarding, Yiin said, adding that it could be the result of the shift of a large number of customers to CPC’s contracted stations following price hikes by its private competitor, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化).
CPC has not raised its prices since last November despite skyrocketing global prices, as the previous government, which left office on May 20, feared lifting a cap on prices would cause inflation to soar further.
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
RSS