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國際時事跟讀 Ep. L277: Taiwan's Six-Week Fuel Freeze Breaks
Highlights 主題摘要
- CPC raised gasoline by NT$0.7 and diesel by NT$0.6 a liter on Monday, ending a six-week price freeze.
- Middle East fighting pushed CPC's benchmark crude price to US$115.61 a barrel, lifting its purchasing costs 12.29 percent.
- Absorbing the gap has cost CPC NT$19.85 billion since February, and the subsidy budget now awaits legislative approval.
Drivers pulling into filling stations across Taiwan on Monday morning paid a little more than they had for the previous month and a half. CPC Corp., the state-owned oil supplier, lifted gasoline prices by NT$0.7 per liter and diesel by NT$0.6, bringing an end to a six-week freeze that had been maintained to ease inflationary pressure on households. Ninety-five-octane unleaded now sells at NT$32.7 a liter, with 92-octane at NT$31.2 and 98-octane at NT$34.7, while premium diesel reaches NT$29.9, levels that will hold until Sunday night.
週一清晨進加油站的車主，發現油價比過去一個半月都貴了一些。國營的台灣中油宣布，汽油每公升調漲0.7元、柴油調漲0.6元，結束連續六週的凍漲；先前凍漲，是為了減輕物價對家庭的壓力。95無鉛目前每公升32.7元，92無鉛31.2元、98無鉛34.7元，超級柴油則是29.9元，價格一路維持到週日深夜。
The pressure originates several thousand kilometers away. Escalating military conflict in the Middle East has heightened risks to crude supply and tanker transport, and CPC's floating price mechanism, weighted 70 percent towards Dubai crude and 30 percent towards Brent, put last week's average at US$115.61 a barrel, compared with US$99.82 a week earlier. The company calculated that its crude purchasing costs rose 12.29 percent, an increase only partly offset by a firmer New Taiwan dollar, which averaged NT$31.556 against the greenback.
壓力來自數千公里外。中東戰事升溫，原油供應與油輪運輸風險同步拉高。中油的浮動油價機制以杜拜原油七成、布蘭特原油三成加權計算，上週均價來到每桶115.61美元，前一週還是99.82美元。中油估算，原油採購成本因此上漲12.29%，新台幣走強只抵銷掉一部分，上週兌美元平均匯率為31.556元。
What drivers were shielded from is the distance between that figure and what they were actually charged. By the economics ministry's reckoning, 95-octane gasoline ought to have risen NT$11.2 a liter and diesel NT$11.4. An expanded commodity tax reduction and CPC's own stabilisation measures absorbed NT$10.5 and NT$10.8 respectively, which leaves the company swallowing a loss of NT$6.8 on every liter of gasoline sold this week and NT$8.7 on diesel. Since the conflict began in late February, those absorbed losses have reached roughly NT$19.85 billion.
車主沒有付到的，是另一個數字。依經濟部試算，95無鉛原本應該漲11.2元、柴油應該漲11.4元。貨物稅減徵擴大，加上中油自行啟動的平穩措施，分別吸收10.5元與10.8元，也讓中油本週每賣出一公升汽油就賠6.8元，柴油更賠8.7元。二月底戰事爆發以來，累計吸收金額已接近198.5億元。
Someone, eventually, has to bear the brunt. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is pressing the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan to approve NT$180.94 billion in subsidies for state-owned energy companies, a component of the record supplementary budget the Cabinet finalised on September 3. Approval is far from assured. The central bank, meanwhile, holds its quarterly meeting on Thursday with consumer price growth above the 2 percent alert level for a fourth consecutive month, making a rate rise look considerably less far-fetched than it did in June.
成本終究要有人扛。經濟部正在爭取由在野黨掌握多數的立法院通過1,809.35億元，撥補國營能源事業；這筆錢屬於行政院9月3日拍板的史上最大追加預算，能否過關仍有變數。另一方面，中央銀行週四召開季度理監事會，消費者物價漲幅已連續四個月站上2%警戒線，升息不再像六月時那樣遙遠。
Keyword Drills 關鍵字
- Freeze [noun, a period during which prices or wages are deliberately held unchanged]: The government announced a six-week freeze on fuel prices.
- Floating price mechanism [noun phrase, a system that adjusts prices automatically according to market costs]: Fuel prices here follow a floating price mechanism.
- Shield [verb, to protect someone from something harmful or costly]: Subsidies shield drivers from the full price increase.
- Swallow [verb, to absorb a loss or cost without passing it on]: The company had to swallow the extra shipping costs.
- Bear the brunt [idiom, to take the worst part of something unpleasant]: Small businesses bear the brunt of rising fuel costs.
Reference article:
https://udn.com/news/story/7238/9750953
https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202609120011
https://focustaiwan.tw/business/202609120009