Local convenience store operators yesterday quietly raised prices for some cold drinks, such as Lipton lemon tea, to reflect rising materials costs, saying the move was unavoidable.
"As manufacturers raised prices to reflect rising costs in raw materials, we have changed price tags on around 10 items since May 1," said Zenia Lee (
President Chain, which operates more than 3,500 7-Eleven outlets nationwide, raised the prices on some cold drinks -- such as Uni-President green, black and oolong tea and Newlife green tea -- by NT$1, or 6.67 percent, to NT$16, Lee said. The cost for these items was kept unchanged for several years, she added.
Three other convenience store chains -- Taiwan FamilyMart Co (
But convenience store chains are not alone in raising prices. Consumer electronics brands like Sanyo (
While consumer prices rose for a fourth straight month last month, there is no immediate risk from inflation, according to a report released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) yesterday.
The nation's consumer price index (CPI) climbed 1.12 percent last month from the previous month, representing the biggest gain in 13 months, the DGBAS said. The figure was 0.93 percent up from the same period last year, it added.
"The increase was mainly attributed to price hikes in clothing and oil," Tsuei Chou-ying (
Prices for ready-to-wears, which make up about 3.3 percent of the index, soared 26.18 percent from the previous month since no discounts were available from new items rolled out for spring and summer, Tsuei said.
Oil prices were up by 2.16 percent last month after Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced hikes in their wholesale gasoline and diesel prices in late March.
Oil prices were 9.98 percent up from the same period last year.
The cost of food and drink, which accounts for about a quarter of the index, rose 0.47 percent from the previous month.
Vegetable prices rose 9.35 percent from March as the cold weather led to declining supply.
Fruit prices dropped 6.91 percent. Housing rentals fell 0.06 percent.
Tsuei said there was little reason at the moment to worry about inflationary pressures surfacing.
"Although the index has gone up for four consecutive months, the margin was quite small," she said.
The average index from January to April rose 0.62 percent from the same period last year, the report said.
Chu Yun-peng (
"Similar to the US situation, the possibility of deflation has been removed [in Taiwan] and we don't have to worry about inflation unless prices rise for another three to six months," Chu said.
The wholesale price index -- a gauge of production costs -- rose 4.7 percent last month from a year earlier and was up 0.44 percent month-on-month, the DGBAS said.
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