Domestic diesel prices are this week to decrease by NT$0.1 per liter, but gasoline prices are to remain unchanged, even though international crude oil prices increased last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced separately yesterday.
Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC stations would remain at NT$22.2, NT$23.7 and NT$25.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel would drop to NT$19.5 per liter, the state-run refiner said in a statement.
Formosa said that its prices for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline would remain at NT$22.2, NT$23.6 and NT$25.7 per liter respectively, while premium diesel would cost NT$19.3 per liter.
CPC said that based on its floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil increased 0.82 percent last week from a week earlier, as Tropical Storm Beta affected oil and gas operations near the Gulf of Mexico.
That would have resulted in CPC increasing gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.1 per liter each, but to comply with a government policy of keeping domestic fuel prices the lowest in Asia, CPC said that it had to absorb the cost increase for gasoline products and lower diesel prices by NT$0.1 per liter.
Formosa decided to match CPC’s price adjustments after factoring in the exchange rate for the New Taiwan dollar and local market competition, the company said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last