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CPC to cut gas, diesel prices by NT$0.1 per liter

Drivers fill their tanks at a petrol station in Taipei City on July 1. CPC Corp, Taiwan said yesterday that it would cut gasoline prices today. PHOTO: LIN CHENG-FENG, TAIPEI TIMES

State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday it would lower its wholesale gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.1 per liter, effective today.

The weekly price adjustment was made using CPC’s floating price mechanism, the company said in a statement. Retail pump prices would be decided by individual gas stations, the company said.

With the adjustment, CPC’s wholesale price of 92 octane unleaded gasoline will drop to NT$20.3 per liter, while that of 95 octane unleaded gasoline will be NT$21.0 per liter and 98 octane unleaded will be NT$22.5 per liter.

The prices of regular and premium diesel will fall to NT$17.0 per liter each, while that of fuel oil used by ships will drop by NT$100 per kiloliter to NT$16,500, CPC’s data showed.

Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), which usually matches its bigger rival’s price adjustments, announced late last night that it would also cut prices by NT$0.1 per liter on both gasoline and diesel products, effective today.

CPC’s price cut came after the company announced on Thursday it would raise this month’s wholesale prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to reflect the rising costs of energy.

Effective yesterday, the company raised its price for household LPG by NT$1.4 per kilogram and NT$0.7 per liter for LPG used in cars, CPC said in a statement.

Following the price adjustment, the price of a 20kg household gas cylinder — often used by families, restaurants and food stands — is expected to increase by NT$28.

CPC claimed its prices for household LPG would still be the cheapest in Asia.

However, Consumers’ Foundation (消基會) chairman Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) yesterday criticized CPC’s LPG price hikes, describing the move as “absurd” in view of a decline in global natural gas prices.

Since LPG users are mostly street vendors whose incomes are relatively low, it is inappropriate for the government-owned gas company to raise the LPG prices, Hsieh told the state-run Central News Agency.

Instead, the firm should cut prices, Hsieh said.
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