Taiwan's CPI saw a new high increase of 0.64% in Feb.
Mar 09, 2004 Ι Industry In-Focus Ι Furniture Ι By Judy, CENS
DGBAS statistics showed that the general CPI stood at 99.71 points (2001 = 100) in February, down 0.79% from a month earlier; while the average consumer price grew 0.32% in the first two months of the year.
In February, fruit and vegetable prices climbed 2.67% from a year earlier, and oil prices soared 5.39%. But the house rentals dropped 0.83%, for the 29 consecutive monthly decline of its kind. If excluding the prices of fresh food and energy, the core CPI for the month edged down 0.03%.
Market observers indicated that the CPI growth was mainly caused by the hikes in commodity prices and had nothing to do with the service industry, which saw a price drop in February.
As to the wholesale price index (WPI), it stood at 105.74 (2001 = 100) in February, up 1.04% from a month earlier and up 2.09% from one year earlier. The upward movement of WPI was due mainly to the rise in the prices of basic metals, sand & gravel, petrochemicals and some agricultural and livestock products.
The import price index for February posted an annual growth of 2.37% if calculated in the New Taiwan dollar, and recorded a much higher annual expansion of 7.18% if based on the U.S. dollar. Of various import products, basic metals and related products saw the highest annual price hike of 44.17%, especially the import prices for steel billets, steel scraps, copper, aluminum, and nickel.
As the international prices of paper, wood, pulp and related products also increased sharply in the first two months of the year, Taiwan's import prices of such products jumped by 10.91% in February. In addition, the import prices of plastic products saw a rise of 6.67%, due mainly to the surge in international market prices of ethylene glycol (EG), styrene monomer (SM), vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), polyethylene (PE), and polypropylene (PP).
Some worried that the rising import prices of raw materials might push up the prices of domestic products, which might lead to inflation. However, DGBAS analyzed that Taiwan does not have any inflation pressure today because many domestic manufacturers have already moved their production lines to the mainland.
As to the export price index for February, it fell 2.85% from the same month of last year. But if calculated in the U.S. dollar, the index posted an annual growth of 1.29%. The hiked quotation prices of stainless steel planks, cold- & hot-rolled steel sheets, steel tubes, and copper planks helped push up the export prices of basic metals & related products by 15.2%.
Taiwan's CPI in February 2004 | ||||
Category | Weighted index | Index (2001 = 100) | Growth (%), compared to Feb. 2003 | |
General index | 1000.00 | 99.71 | 0.64 | |
Basic categories | Food | 250.54 | 101.25 | 2.67 |
Clothing | 47.46 | 97.51 | 3.27 | |
Housing | 307.94 | 97.07 | -0.69 | |
Transportation & communications | 126.25 | 99.68 | 0.93 | |
Medicines & medical care | 37.37 | 106.20 | 1.37 | |
Education & entertainment | 161.11 | 98.58 | -0.91 | |
Miscellaneous | 69.33 | 105.5 | 0.1 | |
Nature of Products | Merchandise | 528.52 | 100.16 | 1.27 |
Services | 471.48 | 99.19 | -0.09 |
Source: DGBAS
Taiwan's WPI in February 2004 | |||
Category | Index (2001 = 100) | Growth (%), compared to Feb. 2003 | |
General index | 105.74 | 2.09 | |
Product sources | Domestic products | 111.17 | 6.05 |
Import products | 109.85 | 2.37 | |
Export products | 95.84 | -2.85 | |
Basic categories | Agricultural, forestry, livestock, & fishery products | 120.26 | 18.56 |
Minerals | 131.70 | 4.04 | |
Manufacturing products | 104.19 | 1.33 | |
Water supply, electricity & gas | 98.81 | 0.2 | |
Processing stages | Raw materials | 135.05 | 11.58 |
Medium products | 111.40 | 5.20 | |
Finished products | 100.46 | -0.26 |
Source: DGBAS
Items recording sizable fluctuation in prices between Feb. 2003 and Feb. 2004 | |||
Item | Rise (%) | Item | Fall (%) |
Green onion | 66 | Green pepper | -33 |
Papaya | 52 | Mobile phone | -20 |
Wax apple | 32 | Cabbage | -19 |
Betel nut | 21 | Newspaper | -19 |
Beef | 13 | Digital camera | -14 |
Ward service charge | 9 | Prescribed medicine | -9 |
Toy | 8 | Personal computer | -8 |
Natural gas | 7 | Air conditioners | -5 |
Flight ticket | 6 | Egg | -5 |
Gold decoration & jewelry | 5 | Liquid gas | -4 |
Source: DGBAS