The Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture will host a series of Taiwan food festivals in China in September to help promote exports of Taiwanese food products across the Taiwan Strait, an official at the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.
The Taiwan food festivals will be held in Shanghai, Beijing and Tienjin to show off Taiwan's rice, fresh fruits and processed foods, the agriculture council's Vice Chairman Huang Chin-jung (黃欽榮) said yesterday at a press conference. The conference was held to kick off the 2002 Taipei International Food Show at the Taipei World Trade Center.
Huang said he is confident the upcoming Taiwan food festivals in China will be a big success because he knows that high-income people there, particularly those from coastal provinces, have a good impression of high-quality food products from Taiwan.
The current Taipei International Food Show, which runs through June 15, has attracted a total of 563 exhibitors occupying 1,292 booths, an increase of 10 percent from a year ago, according to statistics from the China External Trade Development Council (CETRA, 外貿協會), Huang said.
With Taiwan's commitment to gradually opening up the domestic market for agricultural products following its accession into the WTO earlier this year, 171 foreign exhibitors are taking part in this year's event and occupy 328 booths in total, said CETRA chairman Shea Jia-dong (許嘉棟).
Foreign importers at the annual exhibition are happy with the opening up of the market, with Martin Charron, Canadian trade commissioner in Taipei, saying that the lower tariffs on imported beef would offer consumers a wider selection at lower prices.
"If you don't see a drop in prices of imported beef soon then you know you're being ripped off," said Charron, who yesterday passed around plates of tender Canadian grain-fed beef and massive lobster claws to hungry attendees.
In line with its commitments under the WTO, Taiwan's average tariff on imports of foreign agricultural products has been lowered from 22 percent to 14 percent.
Also, a large number of formerly restricted products, such as rice and liquified dairy products, are now completely importable, Huang said -- adding that the country is scheduled to import 144,720 tonnes of rice from abroad this year, although the nation's rice output has been self-sufficient.
The council also wants to allow the importation of grain liquor and wine from China, Huang said, adding that the council will not consider allowing the importation of fruit liquor and wine from China at present, in consideration of the interests of domestic fruit growers.
Chen Fei-long (陳飛龍), chairman of GMP Chinese Food Promotion Association (中國食品 GMP 發展協會), said Taiwan is currently far ahead of mainland China in agricultural technologies and food-processing industries.
Exports of Taiwan-made food products to China will be even more promising if the "three links" are opened across the Strait and when Taiwan liberalizes restrictions on bank loans ? and when related agricultural policies are further relaxed, Chen added.
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