In the first 10 months of 2016, fruit and vegetable prices were 20 percent higher in Taiwan, in comparison with last year. This contributed to pushing the overall consumer price index (CPI) higher, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said Tuesday 8 November.
In the 10-month period, the CPI rose 1.30 percent year-on-year and food prices were up 5.18 percent.
During the same period, vegetable prices soared 21.23 percent and fruit prices rose 20.33 percent, largely because of bad weather and in particular several typhoons that hit agricultural areas hard.
The food price increase for the 10-month period was the highest since the first 10 months of 2008, when they rose 8.94 percent, the DGBAS said.
The increase in vegetable prices was the highest since 2012, when they were up 30.17 percent, while the fruit price rise was the highest since 1992, when they were up 27.20 percent, the DGBAS added.
In October alone, overall inflation was 1.70 percent, with food prices up 5.24 percent, the DGBAS data showed.
The data showed that vegetable prices jumped 24.20 percent and fruit prices gained 7.83 percent in October from a year earlier because of damage from typhoons.
The DGBAS said that due to the vegetable price spike, a household with monthly expenses of NT$60,000 (US$1,905) spent an additional NT$539 on vegetables on average in October, compared with the same period of last year.
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