About 200 farmers from the south protested yesterday against a 70 percent increase in fertilizer prices, demanding government subsidies to help them offset rising costs.
The protesters, mostly from Pingtung and Tainan counties, held up fertilizer bags emblazoned with slogans such as “Fertilizer Prices Rise, Farmers Die.”
Last month, the government lifted a three-year freeze on fertilizer prices, allowing suppliers to factor in their rising costs amid soaring global raw material prices.
The protesters said the move encouraged widespread hoarding, leading to a severe fertilizer shortage.
The new administration under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has also lifted freezes on fuel and electricity prices, setting off a wave of price hikes for everything from food to household supplies.
“Our new leader has promised us a better life, but we see nothing but hardships ahead,” said protester Lan Yi-yuan, a vegetable and fruit grower in Pingtung County.
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) promised the farmers that the government would stop further hikes in fertilizer prices for at least four months as an anti-hoarding measure. He did not comment on the farmers’ demand for subsidies.
The government has said it would strive to keep inflation at 3.3 percent this year — up from a 2 percent forecast in February — by cutting commodity taxes and offering other subsidies.
In related news, the Bureau of Investigation under the Ministry of Justice yesterday arrested Chiu Hsin-hsing (邱信行), a specialist at a branch of the state-run Taiwan Fertilizer Co (台肥) in central Taiwan, for illegally storing 560 tonnes of fertilizer in Yunlin County.
Investigators from the bureau’s Chiayi County branch — along with police from Minsyong Precinct of the Chiayi County Police Bureau and officials from Yunlin County Government — yesterday found 15,400 bags of fertilizer in Douliou City (斗六), Yunlin County, allegedly hoarded by Chiu. Each bag weighed about 40kg.
Chiu is suspected of purchasing the 15,400 bags from the company in the name of a dummy fertilizer store that he had set up in Douliou City, investigators said. He then hoarded the bags, waiting to profit from the price hikes.
Chiu’s action resulted in a shortage of fertilizer in central Taiwan last month, police said, adding that as fertilizer prices had already risen from NT$350 to NT$510 per bag, Chiu could have made more than NT$2.5 million (US$82,450) profits from his stock of fertilizer.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS