Taipei:CPC Corp., Taiwan has announced its decision to keep domestic gasoline and diesel prices unchanged for the upcoming week, marking the ninth consecutive week of stable pricing. This decision comes despite fluctuating global crude oil prices, which have seen a recent decline due to a global supply surplus.

According to Focus Taiwan, CPC's decision aligns with the Taiwanese government's price stabilization measures aimed at curbing inflationary pressures by maintaining artificially low fuel prices. The company has set the retail prices for 92-, 95-, and 98-octane unleaded gasoline at NT$31.2, NT$32.7, and NT$34.7 per liter, respectively, effective from midnight Sunday through November 22. Additionally, the price for premium diesel will remain at NT$29.9 per liter.

Although Brent futures, a key global benchmark, dropped by approximately 2.5 percent this week, the average international crude oil price decreased from US$99.79 per barrel to US$90.61 per barrel. CPC's pricing mechanism, which considers a weighted average of 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude, reflects these changes. However, the impact of lower crude prices was partly offset by a depreciating Taiwan dollar, which averaged NT$32.867 against the U.S. dollar this week.

CPC anticipates absorbing losses of NT$2.3 per liter on gasoline and NT$3.7 per liter on diesel sales next week. Since the escalation of tensions in the Middle East at the end of February, CPC estimates it has absorbed a total of NT$35.36 billion in losses due to not fully passing increased crude oil costs on to consumers.