Two weeks since the resumption of beef imports from the US, local importers, restaurateurs and retailers are gearing up to take back the market share US beef lost over the past 16 months.
Since US beef imports were banned in December 2003 after the discovery of a case of mad cow disease in Washington State, Taiwan's beef market has been reshuffled, with combined imports from New Zealand and Australia taking a majority share.
Taiwan is the US' sixth-largest beef importer. Imports amounted to US$325 million in 2003.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"To take back our meat-loving customers and the market share, we will launch a series of marketing initiatives around the nation to promote US beef," said Davis Wu (
The conference also featured a group of five-star hotel chefs showcasing their skill in preparing US beef.
To retake its market position, the federation plans to host promotions and free sampling activities in hypermarkets, as well as offering incentives and assistance for hotels and restaurant owners to put US beef back on the menu, Wu said.
Japan's biggest beef-bowl restaurant chain, Yoshinoya, was noted as an example of a company suffering declining sales and profits after it was forced to remove its trademark beef-on-rice dish from its menu more than a year ago.
Asked whether this erstwhile strong supporter is expected to resume its procurement of the long-banned US beef, Peter Cho (
But the federation is confident that, by the end of this year, US beef products will achieve 50 percent of the sales volume recorded in 2003, Cho said.
Carrefour Taiwan, the nation's largest hypermarket operator with 34 outlets countrywide, has imported 15 tonnes of US beef in the past two weeks, of which it has sold 80 percent. Carrefour sold around 60 tonnes of US beef in 2003.
"Customers have given a positive response, but we'll still maintain beef imports from New Zealand and Australia as required by the market need," Carrefour's public relations manager Jurene Hsiao (
Currently, only boneless meat cut from cattle younger than 30 months can enter the market. Cattle parts such as intestines and tonsils, which have a higher risk of being contaminated, are still prohibited.
Also see story:
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day