The nation's chicken farmers are set to cash in on the deadly bird flu epidemic sweeping through Asia by filling orders from overseas.
Although Taiwan has reported some cases of a mild form of the disease, it has so far been spared the more deadly form that has killed at least 15 people in Vietnam and Thailand.
Thailand and China, where the deadly bird flu has also been found, were the region's top suppliers of chicken,according to the Poultry Association ROC.
Most countries have banned poultry from these countries, leaving Taiwan to fill the orders.
Indonesia, also affected by the disease, ordered 430 tonnes of Taiwanese chickens, which cost about 30 percent more than those from Thailand and China.
Council of Agriculture officials said some orders had come from Hong Kong and Japan, even though these countries have banned Taiwanese poultry.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said it was negotiating to get the bans lifted.
The council said it would launch a Web site today to introduce Taiwanese agriculture products to foreign buyers.
The increased overseas demand could help offset a slump in sales in Taiwan, where the price of chickens has fallen below the cost of producing them.
"The council has allocated NT$20 million to buy domestically produced chicken, the market price of which is less than 95 percent of cost," council deputy minister Lee Jen-chyuan (
At the press conference, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said that although H5N2, a weak strain of the avian flu virus, had been found in Taiwan recently, consumers could be confident that domestically produced chickens were safe to eat.
Eating fried chicken and drinking chicken soup at the press conference with high-ranking officials and legislators, Yu proclaimed, "Taiwanese chickens, safe!"
Yu said that proper cooking killed the H5N2 strain in chicken.
Yu said that Taiwan is probably one of the cleanest areas in Asia, and orders for chickens from neighboring countries were rising.
"We don't have to be scared, because Taiwan is not on the list of countries affected by deadly bird flu," Yu said.
Yu said that epidemic controls, such as monitoring migratory birds and seizing smuggled products, would continue.
Yesterday, the council's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine announced that the H5N2 strain was found in eight farms in central and northern Taiwan. About 230,000 chickens on affected farms in Tainan, Changhua, Miaoli, Taoyuan and Nantou counties would be culled soon, officials said.
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