The volume and value of Taiwan’s agricultural exports increased in the first half of this year, while the nation’s dependency on the Chinese market fell.
The volume of agricultural exports in the first six months totaled 1,098,187 tonnes, up about 5.5 percent from a year earlier, while their output value topped US$2.78 billion, rising about 17.6 percent annually, government data showed.
China in March banned imports of pineapples from Taiwan, prompting the Council of Agriculture to find other export markets.
Photo courtesy of Pingtung County Government
The efforts resulted in China accounting for only 51.6 percent of Taiwan’s total fruit exports in the first six months, down from 75 percent a year earlier, the data showed.
The total export value of fresh fruits over the period inched up 0.6 percent to about US$130 million. Of that, China accounted for US$66.49 million, down 30.8 percent from last year’s US$96.04 million, the data showed.
The export value of other major agricultural products also rose during the period.
The export value of fish and fish byproducts rose 13.8 percent annually to more than US$700 million, government data showed.
The export value of cereals and cereal products rose to more than US$260 million (up 2.9 percent), followed by fruits and fruit-derived products with more than US$190 million (up 5.8 percent), flowers and seeds with more than US$110 million (up 12.9 percent), and leather products with more than US$100 million (up 11.1 percent), the data showed.
The export value of fruits to China, including wax apples, mangoes and citruses, posted declines of 27.8 to 89.7 percent, government data showed.
The only exceptions were sugar apples and jujubes, whose exports to China had risen earlier in the year, the data showed.
The value of fresh fruit exports to Japan reached US$31.03 million in the first six months, an increase of 173.1 percent from a year earlier. Fresh fruit exports to Hong Kong during the period reached US$17.8 million (up 81.2 percent), followed by South Korea with US$4.16 million (up 37.1 percent), Singapore with US$3.85 million (up 16.3 percent) and the US with US$1.08 million (up 10.6 percent), the data showed.
The US for the first time became the No. 2 importer of Taiwan’s agricultural products, after China, council data showed.
Agricultural exports to the US in the first six months totaled US$425 million, a 40 percent increase from a year earlier, the data showed.
In addition to moth orchids, one of the US’ major imports from Taiwan, the country has also imported more ingredients for hand-shaken drinks, such as cassava and tapioca, the data showed.
In the first six months, about 8,550 tonnes of cassava and tapioca were sold to the US, rising 103.7 percent from a year earlier and generating a revenue of US$14 million, council data showed.
The US also imported 2,666 tonnes of sugar and related products from Taiwan, as well as 1,166 tonnes of tea leaves, up 69.4 percent and 56 percent respectively on an annual basis, making the US the top destination for Taiwan’s tea products, the data showed.
Similar growth was recorded in exports to Germany and France, the council said.
Exports of tapioca and tea leaf products to Germany in the first six months surged 487.2 percent and 408.8 percent respectively, earning revenue of US$1.05 million and US$1.98 million respectively, the data showed.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS