CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday announced that they would increase gasoline and diesel prices for the sixth week in a row, effective today.
CPC said that it would raise gasoline prices by NT$0.2 per liter to NT$24.2, NT$25.7 and NT$27.7 for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while the cost of premium diesel would increase by NT$0.5 per liter to NT$21.8.
Based on CPC’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil last week increased 0.87 percent from a week earlier, which the state-run refiner attributed to optimistic sentiment in the oil market after US President Donald Trump signed into law a US$2.3 trillion COVID-19 aid and spending package.
The news that the EU began to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine last week also helped push up oil prices, it added.
Formosa said that global crude oil prices traded in a narrow range last week, affected by a mixture of factors, including expectations of an increase in output by OPEC and its allies, the reduction of US crude oil inventories for a third straight week, and Trump’s signing of the COVID-19 aid and spending bill.
It said it would increase its prices for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline by NT$0.2 per liter to NT$24.2, NT$25.6 and NT$27.7 respectively, while premium diesel would rise by NT$0.5 to NT$21.6 per liter.
DOLLAR CHALLENGE: BRICS countries’ growing share of global GDP threatens the US dollar’s dominance, which some member states seek to displace for world trade US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday threatened 100 percent tariffs against a bloc of nine nations if they act to undermine the US dollar. His threat was directed at countries in the so-called BRICS alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have applied to become members and several other countries have expressed interest in joining. While the US dollar is by far the most-used currency in global business and has survived past challenges to its preeminence, members of the alliance and other developing nations say they are fed
LIMITED MEASURES: The proposed restrictions on Chinese chip exports are weaker than previously considered, following lobbying by major US firms, sources said US President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing additional curbs on sales of semiconductor equipment and artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips to China that would escalate the US crackdown on Beijing’s tech ambitions, but stop short of some stricter measures previously considered, said sources familiar with the matter. The restrictions could be unveiled as soon as next week, said the sources, who emphasized that the timing and contours of the rules have changed several times, and that nothing is final until they are published. The measures follow months of deliberations by US officials, negotiations with allies in Japan and the Netherlands, and
Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) yesterday said it expects any impact of new tariffs from US president-elect Donald Trump to hit the company less than its rivals, citing its global manufacturing footprint. Young Liu (劉揚偉), chairman of the contract manufacturer and key Apple Inc supplier, told reporters after a forum in Taipei that it saw the primary impact of any fresh tariffs falling on its clients because its business model is based on contract manufacturing. “Clients may decide to shift production locations, but looking at Foxconn’s global footprint, we are ahead. As a result, the impact on us is likely smaller compared to
TECH COMPETITION: The US restricted sales of two dozen types of manufacturing equipment and three software tools, and blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities US President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled new restrictions on China’s access to vital components for chips and artificial intelligence (AI), escalating a campaign to contain Beijing’s technological ambitions. The US Department of Commerce slapped additional curbs on the sale of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and chipmaking gear, including that produced by US firms at foreign facilities. It also blacklisted 140 more Chinese entities that it accused of acting on Beijing’s behalf, although it did not name them in an initial statement. Full details on the new sanctions and Entity List additions were to be published later yesterday, a US official said. The US “will
RSS