Chiayi County Government Consumer Protection Officer and Criminal Investigation Corps Go Deep into Markets to Strictly Investigate Fruit and Vegetable Prices

On the morning of the 23rd, Chiayi County Government Consumer Protection Officer Lu Ying-chi, together with the county government's Agriculture Department, Economic Development Department, and the Police Department's Criminal Investigation Corps and other regulatory units, accompanied by Chiayi District Prosecutors Office Chief Prosecutor Tsai Ying-chun, went to the Qingsong Fruit and Vegetable Production Cooperative and traditional markets in townships including Shuishang Township and Puzi City to strictly investigate whether there were illegal practices such as price gouging of agricultural products, so as to restore reasonable purchase prices for consumers. Lu Ying-chi pointed out that County Magistrate Chang Hua-kuan attaches great importance to whether agricultural product market prices are reasonable, and specifically instructed that strict investigation and enforcement be carried out to eliminate violations such as illegal hoarding of agricultural products and price gouging. At present, agricultural product prices are still on the high side, and after visits to various locations, it was learned that prices have continued to stabilize. If there are no disasters from now on, agricultural product prices will be able to return to normal conditions.

This year, agricultural products have been affected by factors such as cold damage and typhoons, and prices have continued to soar. In order to investigate whether there are illegal situations such as price gouging and hoarding of agricultural products on the market, consumer protection officers and other personnel went deep into traditional markets, fruit and vegetable production cooperatives and other locations, personally inquiring about the prices of vegetables such as potatoes and cabbage and observing actual trading conditions. They will cross-compare and analyze the collected data with prices, and trace whether market prices are abnormal. Tsai Ying-chun stated that most refrigerated vegetables are sold to livelihood product channel distributors such as PX Mart and Carrefour, while traditional markets mainly rely on the Xiluo Fruit and Vegetable Market and vegetables grown by farmers themselves, with prices somewhat lower. The results of this inspection have so far shown no substantial evidence proving hoarding or price gouging, and they will continue to trace whether there are other human factors manipulating prices.