Sat, Mar 07, 2026 page9

• Consumer prices rose 1.75% last month

  LUNAR NEW YEAR: The increase was driven mainly by seasonal price hikes during the holiday, but falling fruit and vegetable prices helped offset part of the increase

  • By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporter
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  Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.75 percent year-on-year last month, remaining below the central bank’s 2 percent inflation alert for the 10th consecutive month, although the pace of increase accelerated from January’s revised 0.64 percent, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

  The increase was driven mainly by seasonal price hikes during the Lunar New Year holiday, when some service providers tend to raise fees, alongside continued increases in dining-out costs, the statistics agency said.

  However, falling fruit and vegetable prices helped offset part of the increase.

  

  A woman shops at a butcher’s stall in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District yesterday.

  Photo: CNA

  Inflation is expected to ease slightly and remain below 2 percent this month, despite higher international oil prices amid tensions in the Middle East, DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) said.

  State-run refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (中油) operates a price-stabilization mechanism, while the government can also deploy measures such as commodity tax reductions to cushion energy price pressures, Tsao said.

  “Although international oil prices have shown sharp volatility, the government’s stabilization measures should help keep domestic energy prices stable,” he said.

  Core CPI, a better gauge of long-term inflation trend because it excludes volatile items, rose 2.6 percent year-on-year, the fastest pace in two years, largely due to higher service charges during the holiday season.

  Among the seven major CPI categories, miscellaneous items posted the biggest increase, rising 5.06 percent from a year earlier, driven by a 16.88 percent surge in personal care service fees and a 4.48 percent rise in hairdressing charges, Tsao said.

  Prices in the education and entertainment category climbed 4.55 percent, mainly reflecting higher group tour and hotel accommodation costs during the holiday period.

  Shelter costs rose 2.06 percent, with rent increasing 1.85 percent — the slowest pace in nearly four years — while household management fees, gas prices and electricity rates increased 8.47 percent, 7.06 percent and 5.75 percent respectively, Tsao said.

  Food prices edged up 0.21 percent year-on-year, as egg prices jumped 23.41 percent, while meat, seafood and dining-out costs rose 4.27 percent, 3.22 percent and 2.8 percent respectively.

  However, fruit and vegetable prices fell sharply, while the pace of dining-out price increases has slowed for four consecutive months, the DGBAS found.

  After seasonal adjustments, the CPI rose 0.19 percent last month, with the index gaining 1.33 percent in the first two months of the year after stripping out the Lunar New Year effect, the official said.

  Meanwhile, producer prices fell 1.07 percent year-on-year, mainly due to lower prices for agricultural products, gas, petroleum and coal products, as well as chemical materials and pharmaceuticals.

  The decline was partly offset by higher prices for computers, electronic products and optical equipment.

  Severe memory shortages have driven up memory prices, raising costs for technology products.

  For the first two months of the year, the producer price index averaged 1.33 percent lower than a year earlier.
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