State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it is cutting prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) this month by 10.14 percent on a monthly basis.
Effective today, LNG prices would be cut by between NT$30.9 (US$1.04) and NT$46.35 (US$1.56) for households, CPC said.
Prices of LNG for all uses are reduced by NT$0.975 per cubic meter, while the price of natural gas for business use is reduced by NT$1.03 per cubic meter.
Photo: Huang Pei-chun, Taipei Times
The company is to maintain the prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from last month, which includes LPG for household use, industrial-use propane, butane and propane-butane mixture, despite rising international LPG prices.
The price of LPG used in vehicles is also to remain the same, it said.
As a result, the company is to absorb costs of NT$4.4 per kilogram tied to upcoming sales of LPG.
Citing previously absorbed costs of NT$0.9 per kilogram, CPC said it would seek compensation through higher pricing when international prices fall.
In other news, the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Thursday approved applications from six small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to invest a total of NT$3.1 billion through a government program.
Working closely with the semiconductor industry, AblePrint Technology Co Ltd (印能科技), which provides void free solutions for various applications, is to invest nearly NT$900 million to expand its headquarters in Hsinchu County by adding a research and development center as well as a technology plant.
Bespoke aluminum extrusion mold maker Fastek Industrial Co Ltd (光鈦國際) plans to invest more than NT$700 million to set up a new plant in the Taichung Industrial Park (台中工業區), the ministry said.
East Bright Star Technology Co Ltd (耀星科技), Hsiu Chang Enterprise Co Ltd (秀強企業) and Zheng Cheng Marine Products Co Ltd (政澄水產), which specialize in precision machinery, motors and related components, and tuna processing, are to invest NT$400 million each to expand local production, it said.
Motion Technology Electric & Machinery Co Ltd (碩陽電機), a high-precision motor manufacturer, is to invest nearly NT$200 million to set up production in Taoyuan’s Dajian Industrial Park (大江工業區).
The program, launched in parallel with two similar schemes last year amid a trade dispute between the US and China, is part of initiative from the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to encourage domestic investment through various incentives, such as lower interest rates, and assistance in securing land and utilities.
The programs have attracted about NT$984.1 billion in investments from 465 companies.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained