State-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it would increase gasoline and diesel prices by NT$0.2 per liter from today to a more than four-month high as escalating tensions in Middle East crude exporters drove global oil prices higher.
The company’s price increases marked the fourth round of hikes over the past month-and-a-half.
CPC attributed the latest price increase to worry about crude supply reduction as the US recently shut down more oil rigs and an escalating conflict between a Saudi Arabia-led alliance and Yemen, CPC said in a statement on its Web site.
Global crude oil prices climbed 2.96 percent, or US$1.8, to US$62.67 per barrel last week, compared with US$60.87 in the prior week, according to CPC’s pricing information.
The NT$0.329 appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar helped cut some crude oil import costs, and CPC raised domestic fuel prices by 1.49 percent, the company said.
The nation’s only privately run oil refiner, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), yesterday said it would hike prices by NT$0.2 per liter for its gasoline and diesel products as well.
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