As Typhoon Bilis (颱風碧利斯) plows its way into China, officials here began the task yesterday of counting the costs of its brief visit, putting the financial loss to the nation's agricultural industry at NT$2.78 billion, a large portion of which was borne by Hualien County.
According to the Council of Agriculture (
Acting to offset an expected price rise in vegetables brought on by damage to crops, COA Vice Chairman Lin Guo-ching (
PHOTO: HSU PAI-YING, LIBERTY TIMES
If the average price for vegetables rises by over 30 percent, said Lin, the COA would order the release of this food -- which is held in cold storage by farmer's associations -- into the market to stabilize prices. Lin said that there was enough vegetables in storage to meet the needs of greater Taipei for around three weeks.
Other areas also seriously affected include Taitung County, Nantou County and Taichung County where crops of pears, pomelos, papayas and bananas were stripped from their trees by the high wind and rain.
Demand for pomelo -- a large, thick-skinned grapefruit-like fruit -- is expected to increase over coming weeks as the fruit is given and eaten by Taiwanese during the Mid-Autumn festival, which is scheduled under the Chinese lunar calender for Sept. 12. But according to the COA, prices and supply of pomelo should not be affected, as the damage reaped by the typhoon will help offset a glut of the fruit brought on by over production in anticipation of this year's festival. Losses to livestock were listed at 103 pigs, 47,000 chicken, 13,000 ducks and numerous pieces of farm machinery succumbed to the storm's gail-force winds taxing farmers' wallets by NT$20.02 million. Another NT$39.9 million in reported losses were incurred by the nation's fishing industry.
Sweeping in from the Pacific Ocean, Typhoon Bilis made landfall at the east coast port city of Chengkung, Taitung County on Tuesday evening and drove inland. It departed the island in the early hours of yesterday morning from somewhere along the coast of Yunlin County.
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