PLUM RAINS: Wholesale fruit prices totaled NT$40.1 per kilogram on average last month, the highest level in 28 months, but they have eased to NT$36.1 this week

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 06, 2019
By: Kao Shih-ching  /  Staff reporter

The consumer price index (CPI) last month rose 0.86 percent year-on-year as heavy rainfall disrupted vegetable and fruit supplies and pushed up prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

Food costs, which account for 25 percent of the inflation gauge, gained 3.36 percent year-on-year, the highest since a 4.45 percent increase in December 2016, DGBAS Senior Executive Officer Chiou Shwu-chwen (邱淑純) told a news conference in Taipei.

“The plum rain season developed into heavy rain after June 10 and harmed agricultural harvests, driving up vegetable and fruit prices 20.03 percent and 14.73 percent respectively,” Chiou said.

Wholesale fruit prices totaled NT$40.1 per kilogram on average, the highest level in 28 months, but they have eased to NT$36.1 this week, Chiou said.    [FULL STORY]