Following reports that retailers and restaurants have not lowered their prices despite a dramatic drop in the price of eggs recently, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday said it had not found any violations.
Data provided by the commission showed that before the Lunar New Year holiday, the farm price for 600g of chicken eggs in Tainan was about NT$27. As of Monday, the price had dropped to NT$20, a 26 percent drop.
Meanwhile, the commission said initial investigations showed that the retail price of eggs had dropped from about NT$42 to NT$29, or 31 percent.
“Whether it's the farm price or retail price, the price of eggs has dropped as a reflection of the market. There is an oversupply of eggs,” commission Vice Chairwoman Shih Hui-fen (施惠芬) said.
Shih said that although farm prices had dropped as supply was higher than demand, it could take a while before prices reflected that drop. Other costs, such as transportation, grading, sorting of damaged and defective eggs, and marketing and storage costs must also be factored into the final price, Shih said.
The commission said retailers who engaged in price-fixing and who violated fair trade practices would face fines of up to NT$25 million (US$780,000).
The commission will keep monitoring the sector to prevent such activities, Shih said.
In related news, the commission yesterday fined Jumelle (真愛無瑕有限公司) NT$200,000 for misleading consumers into associating Chanel No. 5 perfume with Jumelle's skincare product.
The commission said that in Jumelle's advertisements for the Jumelle a+ camellia extract skincare product, the company repeatedly used words and phrases such as “Coco Chanel turned the camellia into an eternal symbol of style” and “No. 5 + 1 perfection = No. 6.”
Even though the two are unrelated enterprises, the ads may have led consumers to confuse Jumelle products with the Chanel brand, the commission said.
It also said Jumelle’s use of the name and reputation of another brand to further its own interests was a violation of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法).
In addition to the fine, the commission ordered Jumelle to remove immediately all references to Chanel from its ads.
Jumelle did not return calls seeking comment on the matter.
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