Affected by the war in the Middle East, the island’s oil supply is tight, with the impact of plastic raw materials market. Recently, Taiwan set off a“Rush for plastic”.
Taiwan’s“United Daily News” reported on the 23rd that international crude oil supply has been affected by the transportation blockage in the Strait of Hormuz, pushing up the price of petrochemical raw materials in Taiwan, the cost of downstream products such as plastic bags and straws is rising. In the city of Chiayi, many food vendors bluntly, the recent purchase of plastic bags prices“Wave after wave up”, the most obvious increase in the size of plastic bags, or even up to 30% . According to Taiwan’s plastics industry, the price of a plastic bag has risen from 25 NT dollars in early March to more than 35 Yuan in the past two weeks, an increase of at least 40% . Industry said it had never seen such a rapid and frequent increase, “A rise of 20-30% , sometimes the cost of a bag of more than 300-400 Yuan”, which small profits snack business, the burden is heavy.
Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Changhua and other counties and cities have also seen a rush to buy plastic bags. You Changhua plastic bag wholesalers said that the current shelves only large black plastic bags, the rest of the snack shop commonly used plastic bags have been out of stock. Members of Parliament from Changhua County visited a plastic bag shop and found that bags and trash bags of the usual size were sold out, Taiwan’s China Times reported Thursday. According to the owner, the price of a 1 kg bag increased from 20 yuan to 30 yuan last week, but it is still being snapped up by the public. At present, it can only be sold after upstream supply. Nantou market stallholders independently implemented a“Purchase restriction”. Liangmei firm, which specializes in washing-free tableware and groceries, limited the purchase of plastic bags to 1 string (10 bags) per person, firm boss bluntly“Can get the limited supply, in order to let every customer have the opportunity to buy, only limited.”.
Taiwan’s Associated Press, 25, said the war in the Middle East caused by the energy crisis in plastic products soared, many restaurants can not afford. In Kaohsiung, there are buffets that don’t offer plastic bags, and meatpacking shops that ask consumers to pay 1 yuan for plastic bags. “Now you don’t just have to prepare the money for the buns, you also have to prepare the bag tax,” said a netizen on the island.
Taiwan’s“Economic Daily” said on the 25th that Taiwan’s enterprise Taihua has followed up on the“Force Majeure” mechanism launched by Formosa Plastics, estimating that about 50% of the production volume of products such as aromatic hydrocarbons will be affected, and materials will be cut off in May. The industry pointed out that chemical fiber, textiles, home appliances, electronic parts, commodity packaging and other downstream industries, the relevant manufacturing end will face cost pressure, exacerbate the“People’s livelihood inflation” crisis. Taiwan’s China Times News Network 25, mentioned that due to insufficient petrochemical capacity, the island came out of the hosiery industry use of chemical fiber prices by the end of this month or from April more than 30% . The general manager of a company that supplies hosiery industry person chemical fiber expresses, relevant product rises very apparent, estimate is in 30% above.
The anxiety extends to the medical community, where many medical devices in Taiwan have experienced price increases and delivery delays. According to a Taiwanese medical equipment manufacturer, the current price of some consumables, such as medical gloves and suction tubes, has risen by about 7% to 8% , and oxygen machines, wheelchairs, nursing mats, diapers, air mattress shell and other plastic products, prices have risen 5%?10% , in terms of delivery, there is a delay of two weeks to a month of delivery. A well-known pharmaceutical company in Taiwan has sent an urgent notice to the drug supply bureau, saying that it has received a notice of force majeure price hikes for plastic products (plastic strips, alcohol barrels, etc.) , according to Taiwan’s United News Network, “We don’t accept forward orders, so we have to take delivery immediately.”. “There may be a wave of price hikes and shortages in the future.”
Taiwan is facing four pressures of energy, exchange rate, Price and finance, state media quoted a consultancy as saying Tuesday. International crude oil rose from $80 to $120 a barrel as war triggered a global flight from risk, a flight to the US dollar and a devaluation of the Taiwan dollar, the China Times said Monday. For the same barrel of oil, Taiwanese companies will suffer the“Oil price increase” and“Exchange rate depreciation” multiplier effect at the same time. Since the start of the war in the Middle East, the real purchasing power of the Taiwan dollar has shrunk by 3-5 per cent, adding to imported inflationary pressures on the island. In addition, the island by air and sea freight surcharge increases, the cost of imported ingredients rising at the same time, imported beef, dairy products and fruit, such as prices in supermarkets have risen 8% to 12% . If the war heats up again, the next 2 to 4 weeks, restaurant chains are expected to set off a wave of price increases, about 5%?10% .
Taiwan’s“Economy Minister” Gong Mingxin held an emergency meeting on the 23rd to prevent petrochemical raw materials from breaking their chains, after the meeting announced the immediate start of the“Material monitoring, import substitution, inventory transfer, price stability” four measures. However, the island is not optimistic about this, according to some analysts, Lai qingde had publicly declared that“Oil and gas supply is safe until the end of April, but it was close in May”, which can be interpreted as a“Energy window period” in May. Taiwan’s“China Times” 25, said the war in the Middle East triggered a global energy supply crunch, all parties have come up with countermeasures. On the other hand, the Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party authorities have been slow to respond to the crisis. In addition to allowing oil prices to rise slowly, they have only repeatedly called for oil and gas supplies to be safe, which is a consistent policy of“Reporting good news but not bad news.”. The article said that Taiwan is surrounded by the sea, and relies entirely on imports of natural gas, oil and other energy resources. The risk is very high. The Taiwan authorities should“Prepare for the worst and make preparations” so as not to misjudge the situation and put Taiwan in a crisis.