A government trade official denied yesterday local media reports that several Chinese agricultural products will be on Taiwan's shelves before the Chinese New Year.
"The government will announce on Feb. 15 a list of more than 500 prospective mainland Chinese products approved to be directly imported from China," said an official at the Board of Foreign Trade (BOFT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
"But among those, none are agriculture-related products -- they're all industrial goods," said the official who preferred to remain anonymous.
The Central News Agency yesterday reported that Taiwan will open its doors to some 700 products from China, including Chinese agricultural products such as fresh fruits, fresh poultry and seafood products, before the Chinese Lunar New Year which falls on Feb. 12 this year.
The report also said "several Chinese agricultural products, including citrus fruits, peaches, papayas, grapes, apples, ducks, turkeys, cut meat and squid will be allowed to be freely imported," citing officials from the Council of Agriculture.
Source at the ministry said the BOFT in mid-December asked government agencies overseeing industrial and agricultural sectors to review and submit their list of Chinese imports that should be allowed to enter the nation.
The source told the Taipei Times that about 526 industrial items, mainly chemicals and pharmaceuticals, are on the list of permitted items.
"The council is very worried about the impact of cheap Chinese goods on the local market," he added
In related news, Taiwan's imports and exports registered record drops last year of 23.5 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively, according to a Chinese-language newspaper report yesterday.
The Economic Daily News, citing statistics compiled by the Ministry of Finance, said Taiwan is expected to post a trade surplus of U$15 billion for last year -- the largest amount since 1988 -- as a result of a plunge in inbound shipments due to sluggish investment at home and reduced resource prices abroad.
In addition, it reported that Taiwan's imports of capital equipment last year as of the end of November fell 31.8 percent -- a new record -- from the year-earlier level.
According to the finance ministry statistics quoted in the report, Taiwan's imports and exports plumeted 8.5 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively, in 1998 in the wake of 1997's Asian financial crisis. But it pointed out that the nation's imports of capital equipment in 1998 still grew by 11.8 percent, in sharp contrast to last year's record fall.
The US remained Taiwan's largest export outlet last year, absorbing around 23 percent of the country's outbound shipments, down from 24 percent in 2000.
Employment woes
While much attention has been given to the agricultural sector regarding the impact of Taiwan's WTO entry, the monetary and the service sectors may face fierce competition from multinational corporations, according to a report published by Career magazine.
The Chinese-language monthly reports in its January issue that Taiwan's monetary, insurance and securities businesses have until now been too focussed on the domestic market, which leaves them vulnerable to lean foreign competitors looking to expand here.
The mergers of banks, securities houses and insurance companies have entailed layoffs in the financial sector, according to the report.
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