Vegetable prices usually soar in typhoon seasons due to limited production, but two major hypermarket operators have bucked the trend to launch a price war.
RT-Mart (
No shortage
Its other 21 stores would sell water spinach at NT$8 per bunch, she said, adding that supplies were sufficient as the contracts with suppliers had been inked months ago and would not change despite the fact that Tropical Storm Bilis (
Vegetables supplied to its 23 stores nationwide totaled 50 tonnes on Wednesday and doubled to 100 tonnes yesterday, compared with the normal delivery of 20 tonnes, she said.
Carrefour
To compete with its smaller rival, Carrefour Taiwan is also offering special prices for two kinds of leafy vegetables at its Neihu and Dazhi stores.
They will be sold at NT$9 for two bunches until July 25, when the promotion ends, public relations manager Dream Lin (林夢紹) said.
Its remaining 41 stores would also promote vegetables starting at NT$8 per bunch.
Prices for other vegetables and fruits had been increased by between 20 percent and 30 percent, still undercutting the average 50 percent hike in traditional markets, she said.
Lin advised price-sensitive consumers to rather purchase rootstocks, such as carrots and onions, or imported farm produce, such as celery and lettuce, to avoid the short-term price fluctuations.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) yesterday met with some of the nation’s largest insurance companies as a skyrocketing New Taiwan dollar piles pressure on their hundreds of billions of dollars in US bond investments. The commission has asked some life insurance firms, among the biggest Asian holders of US debt, to discuss how the rapidly strengthening NT dollar has impacted their operations, people familiar with the matter said. The meeting took place as the NT dollar jumped as much as 5 percent yesterday, its biggest intraday gain in more than three decades. The local currency surged as exporters rushed to