Taiwan to gradually switch to market-driven fuel pricing

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said it will allow state-owned CPC Corporation, Taiwan, to gradually switch to market-driven fuel pricing. The ministry said in a statement that global crude oil prices have increased more than 40% since the end of 2010, while domestic unleaded gasoline and diesel fuel prices have increased by only 8% and 11%, respectively, due to the current pricing mechanism, resulting in heavy net losses for the refiner since last year. The statement said that as the first step of migrating to a new pricing mechanism, domestic fuel prices will be raised by 7% to 12% on April 2. (April 1, 2012)