Amid speculation that fresh milk suppliers would drive up prices simultaneously in an attempt to monopolize the industry, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said yesterday that whether prices should be raised must be decided by individual suppliers based on their own business strategies.
After confirming with the National Animal Industry Foundation (AIF, 中央畜產會), the commission said that because of the increased prices of raw materials and higher costs of dairy farming, the foundation had decided last month to raise the purchasing price of raw milk by nearly 10 percent.
The proposal has been referred to the Council of Agriculture for ratification, the AIF told the FTC.
“Fresh milk suppliers will have to face market competition while raising the prices of their products. Also, there are various kinds of fresh milk on the market, so consumers should compare prices before purchasing,” the statement said.
The FTC said the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法) strictly prohibits “concerted action” among enterprises — such as jointly deciding the price of goods — and that each company should decide the price rises in accordance with its business strategy.
Chinese-language media said that Wei Chun Foods Corp (味全食品) would raise the price of its fresh milk products by between 5 percent and 10 percent, and Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業) and Kuang Chuan Dairy Co (光泉牧場) would likely follow suit.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained