Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to drop for a fifth straight week, as refiners CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) adapt to global oil market trends, the New Taiwan dollar exchange rate, fierce domestic market competition and a government policy to keep consumer prices stable.
The government requires CPC to keep fuel prices lower than those in neighboring economies such as Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease by NT$0.1 to NT$28.9, NT$30.4 and NT$32.4 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while the price of premium diesel is to decrease by NT$0.2 to NT$27.1 per liter at CPC pumps and NT$26.9 at Formosa stations, the companies said in separate statements.
Global crude oil prices increased last week after an unwarranted suspension of oil pipelines from Russia to Poland, the companies said.
China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index showed a strong posting for last month, which boosted market sentiment about the outlook for oil demand, and pushed oil prices upward, they added.
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
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CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
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