Save money and make instant noodles more elegant! The highest increase in two years is 25%

According to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, the consumer price index for January this year was 108.36 on February 6, with an annual growth rate of 2.37%. According to the records of the Consumer Foundation from January 2010 to December 2011, it was found that the average increase in the five major categories of goods, including "instant noodles, eggs, flour, cooking oil, and shampoo", exceeded 5%. In particular, the average increase in instant noodles was the highest, nearly 16%. In addition, in early February, CPC announced an increase in the prices of bottled gas and natural gas, causing people to complain that "everything has increased, except wages."

The Consumers' Foundation released the results of its price survey and found that the average price increase of instant noodles exceeded 15%, followed by eggs and flour. (Photo provided by Consumer Foundation)

A survey by the Consumers' Foundation shows that the item with the highest price increase in the past two years is the money-saving dish "instant noodles", with a five-pack of Uni-President's Braised Beef Noodles with Scallions increasing by 25%, followed by a bowl of Wei Wang Braised Beef Noodles (23%), Uni-President's Braised Pork Noodles (17%-19%), and Yidu Zan Braised Beef Noodles (6%). The lowest price increase was for Man Han Banquet's Braised Beef Noodles with Scallions (5%). Overall, the average increase of 15.83% made people sigh that the affordable prices of money-saving delicacies have become "expensive"!

The prices of 88% of eggs increased, with an average change of 8.44%, among which Yi Jin washed eggs (10 packs) had the highest increase of 15%. Among the 16 commodities counted, 9 increased by more than 10%.

The third highest average change was in flour, with an average increase of 6.33%. The highest increase was in Carrefour 1kg all-purpose flour, which increased by 11%; followed by Yifeng all-purpose flour (1Kg), which increased by 9%.

In addition, affected by the rising prices of soybean raw materials, edible oils also showed a sharp increase. The product with the highest increase was Deyi's One Day 5 Treasures Healthy Oil (2L), with an increase of 20%, followed by Deyi's One Day 5 Treasures Healthy Oil (3L), with an increase of 17%. Uni-President Salad Oil (3L) ranked third, with an increase of 16%. The overall average change was 6.08%. Finally, even the average price increase for shampoo products was as high as 5.89%.

The Consumers' Foundation stated that in addition to the sharp increase in prices of the above-mentioned daily necessities, it was also discovered during the investigation that adult milk powder had also increased in price! However, what is questionable is that the government has lowered the tariff rate on skim and whole milk powder to 7.5% since February 10 last year. However, according to the price statistics of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, adult milk powder has increased by 3.47% in the "items with significant increases between 2011 and 2009", making people wonder how the government can reduce the cost of the industry while increasing the prices at the back end?

The Consumers' Foundation calls on the government to conduct large-scale price surveys on goods at the end of the market in the face of rising prices, so that the public can clearly understand the trend of price fluctuations and provide corresponding measures, rather than just lowering tariffs and publishing price indices every month, so that the public does not feel that the price increases are inexplicable!