Food prices push up Taiwan inflation

TAIPEI - Taiwan's consumer price index (CPI) rose 2 percent year on year in March, mainly due to food prices rising at the fastest pace since August 2012, the island's statistics agency said on Thursday.

The agency said vegetable prices soared 79.1 percent last month due to cold weather and insufficient sunlight, while fruit prices rose 18.99 percent partly because of bad weather. The two factors contributed to a rise of 1.99 percentage points in the CPI.

However, meat price dropped by 0.68 percent, offsetting the overall price rise to some extent, according to the agency.

The CPI in March dropped 0.63 percent from February, as prices for taxis, group tourism and babysitting all dropped from those around the Chinese Lunar New Year that fell in February.

In the first quarter of 2016, CPI rose 1.74 percent from a year ago.

The wholesale price index declined by 4.94 percent year on year last month, mainly due to the prices of metal, crude oil and chemical products falling, the agency said.