Oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) reported higher earnings for last year than the other three state-run companies under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, thanks mainly to higher global crude oil prices, ministry data released yesterday showed.
CPC’s pretax profit last year was NT$50.4 billion (US$1.71 billion), a significant increase from the NT$35 billion it reported in 2016 and the highest since 1989, data from ministry’s State-Owned Enterprise Commission showed.
Meanwhile, the other three companies under the ministry’s supervision saw lower earnings than CPC, with Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) reporting NT$20.5 billion in pretax profit for last year, Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar, 台糖) NT$2.47 billion and Taiwan Water Corp (Taiwater, 台水) NT$583 million, the data showed.
In 2015, CPC reported losses of NT$33.8 billion, but it returned to profit in 2016 and continued to improve last year, the data showed.
Commenting on last year’s earnings, CPC spokeswoman Ann Bih (畢淑倩) said it raked in higher returns from oil and gas sales, as the global petrochemical industry was boosted by higher crude prices.
CPC also benefited from its noncore business investments, she told reporters, but did not provide any details.
Taipower’s earnings last year fell from NT$35.4 billion in 2016, but the company has remained in the black for four straight years, the data showed.
Taipower spokesman Lin Te-fu (林德福) said earnings came largely from electricity supplied to the nation, but the increase in international fuel prices had driven up operational costs, while Taiwan’s reduced nuclear power generation had also affected the firm’s bottom line last year.
Despite its earnings over the past four years, Taipower still has an accumulated loss of NT$73.5 billion, Lin said.
It has not yet been decided whether electricity rates would be increased to reduce the aggregate loss, he said, adding that such a decision would have to come from the ministry’s electricity rate evaluation commission.
Taisugar’s earnings last year came largely from sugar and cooking oil sales, while its retail operations and agricultural business continued to incur losses, company vice president Hung Huo-wen (洪火文) said.
Taiwater last year recorded its biggest earnings ever, which company spokesman Wu Ching-wen (武經文) attributed to higher water consumption and lower operating costs.
The four companies would have to be audited by the Control Yuan’s National Audit Office before any decision could be made on the distribution of annual bonuses to their employees, the State-Owned Enterprise Commission said.
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