Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) yesterday said that the ministry would work with local manufacturers to assess the effects of flailing oil prices, after international crude prices on Monday suffered their worst day since 1991 amid a price dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
“The current outlook for Taiwan’s economic development appears to be shrouded in a lot of uncertainties,” Shen told reporters prior to attending a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, referring to the crash of oil markets.
“We will hold meetings with businesses in the ICT [information and communication technology] industry, the consumer goods industry, the chemical materials industry and the base metal industry as well as the machinery equipment industry,” Shen said, adding that the ministry would also consult the services sector, which depends largely on domestic market demand.
Photo: Lin Ching-hua, Taipei Times
The ministry would seek opinions and suggestions across these industries to devise a plan to assist businesses facing challenges, he said.
The ministry would closely monitor the effects of fluctuating oil prices on Taiwanese industries, he added.
Global oil prices recovered to some degree on Tuesday, but dipped again yesterday, with benchmarks Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate Crude declining about 3 to 4 percent to between US$33 and US$35 per barrel.
Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) analyst Lo Kai-chen (羅凱禎) said that domestic petrochemical businesses are facing inevitable declines this quarter, as they already face slumping market demand due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) reported.
With oil prices falling, some hope the ministry would freeze electricity prices at the electricity price review committee meeting next week.
The committee has left rates unchanged since September 2018.
The ministry said that state-run Taiwan Power Co (台電) would refrain from increasing rates for mask makers so they can meet daily production targets of 10 million masks by next week.
State-owned Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖) also said that it would extend payments owed until the end of the year for businesses that have leased land from it.
Meanwhile, state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) might adjust downward its weekly prices for domestic gasoline and diesel products by between NT$3.6 and NT$3.8 next week, which would be the largest cut in history based on CPC's floating oil price formula.
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