The first shipment of Taiwanese guavas to the US has arrived after more than 20 days at sea, an event that was celebrated on Wednesday by Taiwan’s representative office in Los Angeles.
The guavas were shipped from Tainan on Dec. 27 last year, following the signing of an export agreement by the two countries in October. With the shipment of the 13 metric tonnes of guavas to Los Angeles, Taiwan became only the second country in the world to supply the fruit to the US, after Mexico.
The arrival of the shipment was marked with a ceremony organized by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles.
Photo: CNA
At the ceremony, US Representative Judy Chu (趙美心) said the US’ importation of guavas from Taiwan was a “great step forward” for trade relations between the two sides.
“The value of our partnership with Taiwan cannot be understated,” Chu said, adding that Taiwan is the US’ 11th-largest trade partner, while the US is Taiwan’s largest foreign investor.
She said the “fabulous” guavas were one of the most memorable experiences she had during a summer spent in Taiwan when she was a college student.
Also speaking at the event, Andrew Edlefsen, an officer at the US’ Foreign Commercial Service, said bilateral trade between the US and Taiwan totaled US$95 billion in 2018 and will continue to grow.
“I am very happy to see this trade relationship with Taiwan move forward and to see what the future brings,” he said.
Edlefsen also said guavas were his favorite fruit when he lived in Taiwan for five years.
Franz Gehrig, an official with the Consulate General of Switzerland in Los Angeles, said he was impressed when he learned that Taiwan was not just an exporter of high-tech products, but also had a vibrant agricultural sector.
“We hope that in the future, there will also be guavas going to Switzerland from Taiwan,” Gehrig said.
In addition to guavas, Taiwan also exports lychees, carambolas, longans and mangoes to the US, according to Lin Li-fang (林麗芳), head of the agricultural division at Taipei’s representative office in Washington.
The first shipment of guavas, which had to be refrigerated during the trip to avoid fruit fly infestation, will be distributed to supermarkets on the US west coast, Lin said.
STRONG INTEREST: Analysts have pointed to optimism in TSMC’s growth prospects in the artificial intelligence era as the cause of the rising number of shareholders The number of people holding shares of chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) hit a new high last week despite a decline in its stock price, the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC, 台灣集保) said. The number of TSMC shareholders rose to 2.46 million as of Friday, up 75,536 from a week earlier, TDCC data showed. The stock price fell 1.34 percent during the same week to close at NT$1,840 (US$57.55). The decline in TSMC’s share price resulted from volatility in global tech stocks, driven by rising international crude oil prices as the war against Iran continues. Dealers said
PRICE HIKES: The war in the Middle East would not significantly disrupt supply in the short term, but semiconductor companies are facing price surges for materials Taiwan’s semiconductor companies are not facing imminent supply disruptions of essential chemicals or raw materials due to the war in the Middle East, but surges in material costs loom large, industry association SEMI Taiwan said yesterday. The association’s comments came amid growing concerns that supplies of helium and other key raw materials used in semiconductor production could become a choke point after Qatar shut down its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and helium output earlier this month due to the conflict. Qatar is the second-largest LNG supplier in the world and accounts for about 33 percent of global helium output. Helium is
China is clamping down on fertilizer exports to protect its domestic market, industry sources said, putting an additional strain on global markets that were already grappling with shortages caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. China is among the largest fertilizer exporters — shipping more than US$13 billion of it last year — and it has a history of controlling exports to keep prices low for farmers. Shipments through the war-blocked Strait of Hormuz account for about one-third of the sea-borne supply. This month, Beijing banned exports of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer blends and certain phosphate varieties, sources said. The ban, which has not
AMAZING ABUNDANCE: Elon Musk has announced plans for a new facility in Texas which would manufacture chips for Tesla and SpaceX to use in robotics and AI Elon Musk said his Terafab project — a grand plan to eventually manufacture his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and space data centers — would be built in Austin and jointly run by Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX). Musk, the chief executive officer of the two companies, said he would start off with an “advanced technology fab” in Austin that would have all of the equipment necessary to make chips of any kind. The project would call for one day supporting 1 terawatt (TW) of computing power per year, the amount Musk expects the companies to
RSS