Qingming Holiday Price Gouging Investigation: Investigation Bureau Inspects 712 Wholesalers and Stores

The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau announced in a press release that to continue implementing the Executive Yuan's policy of stabilizing prices, it issued a directive on March 30 to all investigation stations nationwide. During the Qingming holiday, investigators were dispatched to plastic industry wholesalers to survey changes in upstream, midstream, and downstream petrochemical raw material prices and the supply and sales of plastic raw materials.

According to the press release, the Investigation Bureau also participated in the inter-ministerial 'Joint Price Inspection Team' composed of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Fair Trade Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, and Consumer Protection Department of the Executive Yuan. They went to traditional markets and hypermarkets in various locations to conduct joint inspections, targeting plastic bag manufacturers and wholesalers within their jurisdiction to check for hoarding of raw materials, abnormal stocking, price collusion, and other irregularities.

The Investigation Bureau stated that vendors at Ningxia Night Market reported that they currently only provide plastic bags to regular customers, and there were instances of vendors from other counties and cities coming to Taipei City to buy plastic bags. Some vendors also reported that plastic bag prices had increased by 30% to 50%.

According to the press release, the Investigation Bureau ordered frontline investigators to forgo their Qingming holiday leave to visit and inspect industrial and commercial legal entities, stores, or vendors within their jurisdiction. A total of 1,042 investigators were dispatched, conducting visits or inspections of 712 large and medium-sized wholesalers, stores, and vendors, with 958 factory and vendor personnel interviewed.

The Investigation Bureau stated that through frontline investigators' visits, they understood the current supply and demand situation in the petrochemical market and the reasons for price fluctuations in plastic products. They also visited major domestic petrochemical raw material manufacturers of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) to understand the reasons for changes in petrochemical supply quantities and prices. Manufacturers pledged to continue supplying raw materials to meet various domestic petrochemical daily necessities.

The Investigation Bureau also appealed to businesses not to take advantage of the impact of the US-Iran conflict on petrochemical product transportation and public expectations to hoard plastic products or inflate prices. If any instances of hoarding petrochemical raw materials, manipulating commodity prices, etc., are found, in addition to reporting to the competent authorities for legal penalties, citizens can also call the Investigation Bureau's tip-off hotline at 0800-007007. (Edited by Chang Ming-kun) 1150407