The government will begin selling masks at gas stations nationwide today in a bid to ensure fair prices and availability of the scarce items.
Starting this afternoon, the public will be able to buy blue surgical masks for NT$10 each at some 1,600 Chinese Petroleum Corp stations and over 60 Formosa Petrochemical Corp stations nationwide.
Purchases are limited to two masks per day per customer.
"The move aims to solve the mask shortage problem and ensure the public can buy masks at reasonable prices," Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) said yesterday.
With a shortage of quality masks on the market, authorities on Wednesday warned private importers -- who are sitting on some 10 million masks in customs warehouses -- to start selling them or risk confiscation.
Officials backed up the threat by informing mask sellers the government would be in direct competition with them as of today.
A total of 110,000 masks will be distributed to gas stations, with more to follow.
Authorities are also planning to import 320,000 masks from overseas suppliers and dispatch them to the nation's six major convenience-store chains next week. In addition, the export of locally produced masks has been banned.
Mask prices have soared since the first SARS death was reported late last month.
According to the Fair Trade Commission, prices of surgical masks have jumped to NT$120 each, six times the government established fair price.
In some areas, N95 healthcare masks are being sold for NT$700, seven times what the government set as a fair price.
Any N95 mask costing more than NT$100 or surgical masks priced higher than NT$18 are over-priced, the commission said.
"Consumers should keep the established prices in mind and question anything priced beyond that," said commission Vice Chairman Chen Chi-yuan (
Over the last seven days the commission busted 23 retailers for hoarding masks and penalized each of them with fines ranging from NT$50,000 to NT$150,000.
Meanwhile, news that the government was intervening in the market sent mask vendors into a selling frenzy yesterday.
"My boss urged me to sell the inventory off as quickly as possible, saying once the 10 million masks at customs are released onto the market, prices will drop significantly," said Liao hsing-ju (廖幸珠), who was selling masks in front of the MRT Chungshan station.
Liao, a restaurant employee, said her boss had her start selling masks on the street when the restaurant's sales sagged 50 percent last week.
"Yesterday we sold five surgical masks for NT$100, but today we cut the price to five for NT$90," she said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
RSS