The bird flu outbreak might drive down prices of poultry and eggs in Taiwan in coming weeks, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
This follows the DGBAS’ announcement that annual growth in the consumer price index slowed last month, as expected, from the previous month.
The increase in headline inflation slowed to 0.25 percent last month from a year earlier, compared with an annual growth of 2.37 percent in January, the DBGAS said in a report.
“The Lunar New Year holiday was in February last year,” DGBAS section chief Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) told a press conference. “This raised the comparison basis for last month’s CPI growth.”
Clothing prices climbed 3.03 percent year-on-year last month, marking the fastest pace among the seven main sectors surveyed by the agency, with garment prices rising 1.46 percent, the DGBAS said.
Meanwhile, food costs rose 2.13 percent last month from a year earlier, with prices of vegetables jumping 27.91 percent amid heavy rains that cut supplies and drove up costs, the data showed.
ELECTRONICS DOWN
However, the continuous falling prices on electronic devices, as well as falling Internet connection charges and telecommunication fees, helped offset food’s impact on the inflation rate, Wang said.
However, Wang said prices of poultry and eggs might slide in coming weeks, as the recent bird flu outbreak might deepen consumers’ fears and reduce demand for those products.
The outbreak has led to a temporary suspension of exports of chicken eggs and meat, which has also boosted domestic supply.
The Council of Agriculture will carefully watch prices of chicken-related products and adjust supply as necessary to stabilize prices, Wang added.
FLUCTUATING PRICES
The price of chicken eggs spiked 15.61 percent from the previous year last month as a result of the government’s decision to reduce the number of egg-laying hens, while the price of chicken meat price fell 6.82 percent year-on-year in January and last month, DGBAS statistics showed.
In the first two months, consumer prices rose 1.31 percent from a year ago, translating into an increase of NT$786 in costs per month for households with expenditures of NT$60,000 per month, with food costs rising the most, by NT$554, the DGBAS said.
The wholesale price index rose 1.92 percent year-on-year last month, with domestic sales excluding imports, imported goods and exported goods declining 0.25 percent, increasing 4.3 percent and increasing 1.5 percent respectively, it said.
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