CPC Corp., Taiwan, could be privatized by 2016

Chu Shao-hua, chairman of state-run oil refiner CPC Corporation, Taiwan, announced that if the company’s labor union agrees, CPC could be privatized by 2016, when the second term of President Ma Ying-jeous ends. The Ministry of Economic Affairs had been asked to evaluate the possibility. Chu said that the necessary procedures for privatization will begin once the labor union approves the plan. He explained that the privatization process could be finished by the time President Ma Ying-jeous ends his second presidential term in 2016. Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin expressed concern that fuel prices could rise further if CPC is privatized, because it could join forces with Formosa Petrochemical Corporation to form an oligopolistic market. (April 20, 2012)