Japanese fish farmers are ready to help Taiwan after China banned Taiwanese grouper imports, the Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday.
The Chinese General Administration of Customs suspended imports of the fish on Monday last week, citing prohibited chemicals and excessive levels of oxytetracycline allegedly found in grouper imports since December last year.
Soichiro Hayashi, president of the Hayashi Trout Farm in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, is leading the push for Taiwanese grouper imports, the newspaper said.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
His call has caught the attention of several large sushi chains, the report said.
Hayashi, who is the Fukushima branch head of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan, is supportive of Taiwan and wants to return Taiwan’s kindness after it helped with relief efforts after the March 11, 2011, earthquake, the report said.
Fish from disaster-stricken areas were difficult to sell immediately after the earthquake, given fears of radiation after the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, Hayashi told the Sankei Shimbun.
“The feeling of not being able to sell the fish that you work so hard to breed resonated with me,” he said.
Former minister of foreign affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山), who heads the Friends of Shinzo Abe Association, established this month, introduced Hayashi to fish farmers in Pingtung County, the newspaper said.
Hayashi plans to import two to three tonnes of grouper samples for restaurateurs, and hopes to send a group to Taiwan to inspect the farms’ conditions before importing larger quantities, it said.
Grouper fish is delicious and many Japanese would support Taiwan in this cause as it fights Chinese oppression, Hayashi told the newspaper, adding that the “democratic fish” could become a trend and add to demand.
Chen Chien-han (陳建翰), a fish farmer in Pingtung, yesterday said that he is grateful for Hayashi’s gesture.
“It is a cycle of kindness,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said yesterday, adding that Japanese businesses are looking for opportunities to help Taiwan.
The Tokyo-based Taiwan Trade Center has contacted several aquatic product importers and traders to arrange a deal, director Raymond Chen (陳英顯) said.
The high price of grouper is its largest obstacle when exporting to Japan, given that Japanese have a wide variety of fish to choose from, Chen said, adding that imported fish is rarely seen in Japan apart from cod and salmon.
Meanwhile, Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) is planning to visit Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi in Japan this week to exchange views on issues of mutual concern, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Su is also scheduled to visit the Hayashi Trout Farm during his trip and attend events to promote Taiwanese grouper, they said.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
African swine fever was confirmed at a pig farm in Taichung, the Ministry of Agriculture said today, prompting a five-day nationwide ban on transporting and slaughtering pigs, and marking the loss of Taiwan’s status as the only Asian nation free of all three major swine diseases. The ministry held a news conference today confirming that the virus was detected at a farm in Wuci District (梧棲) yesterday evening. Authorities preemptively culled 195 pigs at the farm at about 3am and disinfected the entire site to prevent the disease from spreading, the ministry said. Authorities also set up a 3km-radius control zone
RSS