The Council of Agriculture yesterday announced the first export of lettuce to Saudi Arabia, after it extended the vegetable’s allowable shipping time from 20 to 28 days.
Twenty tonnes were shipped, it said.
Council Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) made the announcement at a village in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮), which is known for producing large quantities of quality lettuce.
An average of 10,000 tonnes of lettuce was exported annually over the past three years, with 80 percent sold to Japan, Chen said, adding that the council aims to explore new markets to diversify risk.
Taiwan last year exported 7,490 tonnes of refrigerated lettuce, generating revenue totaling US$6,538,000, council data showed.
Of that, 6,592 tonnes were sold to Japan, 628 tonnes to South Korea, 120 tonnes to China, 76 tonnes to Singapore and 4 tonnes to the United Arab Emirates, the data showed.
As temperature affects the quality of lettuce, it used to be sold mainly to Asian countries that could be reached in seven to 10 days, the council said.
However, the shipping time for lettuce can be extended to 28 days, thanks to a vacuum cooling technique developed by institute members and some businesses, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute Director-General Lin Hsueh-shih (林學詩) said.
With the technique, the temperature of lettuce just harvested can be dropped from nearly 20°C to 7°C in four hours and to 4°C the next day, allowing for long-distance shipments, he said.
After experimenting with a shipment to Dubai last year, it was confirmed that lettuce could have a shelf life of seven days after being transported for 28 days, Lin said.
After successfully exporting samples of guava to the US last month and lettuce to Saudi Arabia, the council would continue to find new export markets for different crops, even though the nation cannot sign more free-trade agreements with other countries at the moment, Chen said.
The council would strive to achieve its goal of increasing crop exports by 10 percent every year, despite the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in China affecting domestic exports to China, Chen added.
The council is to announce plans today for the agriculture sector to respond to the disease, its schedule, released yesterday, showed.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS