TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Main opposition party the Kuomintang (KMT) on Monday (April 11) urged the Fair Trade Commission to launch an investigation into what are said to be unreasonably high prices for COVID test kits sold in Taiwan.
Demand for self-test tools for COVID is on the rise given the recent surge in local infections. The KMT legislative caucus speculates that price gouging may be involved in the sale of these products, which are set at prices higher than those in many other countries.
According to KMT Legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲), while prices vary depending on the brand, a single unit test kit costs around NT$300 (US$10.32) to NT$360, while a pack of five units costs NT$360 per unit on average. Comparatively, a test kit of the same brand costs NT$100 per unit in Germany, NT$100 to NT$130 in Singapore, and NTS$140 in South Korea.
The “staggeringly” high prices of such goods in Taiwan are unacceptable, according to Wan, given that Taiwan waived tariffs on imported COVID rapid test items in July 2021, CNA quoted her as saying.
The party demanded an immediate probe into the price-setting mechanism and whether businesses have been profiteering. Meanwhile, the government has been asked to coordinate the effort to boost the capacity of the five local manufacturers of relevant products and make self-test kits widely available for better disease control.
