State-run Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar, 台糖), the nation’s biggest sugar provider, reiterated yesterday it will indefinitely freeze price hikes on sugar and cooking oil products in response to the government’s policy to stabilize consumer prices.
This came after the company released a statement on its Web site on Thursday evening, denying media reports it planned to raise prices to reflect rising costs.
“Taisugar has no intention of adjusting prices on sugar and cooking oil products in the near future” despite the spike in international commodity costs, company deputy chief executive officer Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥) said.
Government policy and public opinion, in addition to market and cost concerns, have guided the company’s pricing decisions, Chen said.
Chen said Taisugar briefed the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Wednesday on global trends in sugar and cooking oil products and suggested responsive measures. He refused to elaborate and dismissed reports of price hikes as media speculation.
“There is no timetable for price adjustments,” he said. “I can’t say how long the freeze will last depending on public sentiment and government policy.”
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday instructed the Executive Yuan to pay attention to a possible increase in food prices.
The government will “pay -attention” to food prices, said Ma while attending a ceremony at Chi-nan Temple.
Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said the president meets with related government bodies every week to discuss the issue of food prices and supplies of locally produced food.
Government concern over food price hikes is believed to have been the main reason behind Taisugar’s decision to announce a price freeze.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it had reached a consensus with food and beverage associations to help stabilize consumables prices.
“These companies agreed to pass on the costs ‘reasonably’ to the consumer and not to collude in hiking prices or increase inventories to artificially create supply constraints,” the ministry said in a statement after meeting with industry associations.
Manufacturers undertook to take into the account reduced government tariffs on raw materials and the strengthened New Taiwan dollar when determining the prices of consumables, the statement read.
Despite the ministry’s words of comfort, Taiwan Flour Mills Association told the Central News Agency that vendors are under extreme pressure to raise prices.
Citing wheat as an example, the association said it had risen 17 percent in price and reduced taxes would not help defray such costs by much.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS