Taiwan is hoping to expand its exports of green soybeans to the US because its main market — Japan — seems to be saturated, according to a local researcher.
Taiwan harvests about 42,000 tonnes of saleable green soybean products, such as edamame, each year, with the majority of the products exported to 19 countries around the world, said Chou Kuo-lung (周國隆), an associate researcher at the Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station.
Japan is Taiwan’s largest export destination for the product, buying about 30,000 tonnes a year, while the US is second at around 2,000 tonnes a year, Chou said.
JAPANESE SATURATION
“The Japanese market has grown saturated over the past two years,” Chou said, adding that export volume was down slightly last year after rising in previous years.
Exports of green soybeans, both shelled and in a shell, to Japan in the first 11 months of last year fell 2.18 percent from a year earlier, pointing to the need for Taiwan to think about diversifying its markets.
“We aim to expand exports to other countries, especially to the US,” Chou said, hoping to see exports to the US double this year to about 4,000 tonnes.
TARO FLAVOR
An aromatic variety developed recently has great market potential and could help Taiwan hit the target, he said.
Dubbed Kaohsiung No. 11, the edible young soybeans are infused with the aroma of taro roots and have a 25 percent higher yield than other varieties, Chou said.
Though the volume of soybean exports to Japan dropped last year, the value of the exports rose because of the development of several better-quality varieties.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS