A large-scale food and agricultural products expo this weekend will demonstrate that products from southern Taiwan are capable of gaining consumers' support due to their high quality, Kaohsiung City Government officials said yesterday.
In October, the EU rejected 30 tonnes of seafood exported from Taiwan. In early November, Japanese inspectors in Okinawa found excessive levels of sulfanilamide in a 600kg batch of live eels that had arrived from Taiwan. Both these cases involved processing factories and aquatic farms in southern Taiwan.
To increase the competitiveness of local agricultural products in global markets, the Cabinet's Council of Agriculture plans to spend NT$2.25 billion integrating production and marketing over the next three years. Meanwhile, local authorities in the south are making efforts to promote their agricultural products in order to broaden the domestic market.
At a press conference held yesterday in Kaohsiung, Deputy Mayor Lin Yun-chien (
"Obviously, Taiwan's entry into the World Trade Organization impacts on the domestic agriculture and fishery industries. We should purchase more domestic products, thereby supporting our diligent farmers," Lin said.
According to the China External Trade Development Council (CETRA), Taiwan's major non-profit trade promoter, the coming expo will be a platform where the food processing industry, agricultural associations and farmers from southern Taiwan will provide consumers with more than 1,000 diverse processed livestock products, food and other products at low prices.
"The expo aims not only to promote agricultural products but also encourage domestic industries in both the agriculture and fishery sectors," said Chu Kang-ming (
According to Chu, agricultural products exported overseas, most of which are seafood, have an annual value of more than NT$3 billion.
"We should promote other products too. For example, fruit that we improve through our research is worthy of being introduced abroad," Chu said.
Due to the appearance of the first SARS case in Taiwan this winter, Chu said, some orders placed at the expo from Japan and Hong Kong were cancelled.
Chu said it was a great pity because some foreign purchase groups have strong buying capacity. One of the Japanese groups last year purchased overseas products worth US$2.1 billion.
The expo will be held in walking areas along the Ai River in Kaohsiung tomorrow and Sunday.
Meanwhile, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday recommended Taiwanese tea and coffee to the world at the 2003 Taipei International Food and Equipment Exhibition. The event was attended not only by local industries but also ambassadors from Taiwan's economic allies, including Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, South Africa and Guatemala.
Lu said that Taiwanese tea can compete with similar products on the global market because of its effectiveness in maintaining health.
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