Agricultural exports to the 18 nations targeted by the New Southbound Policy for trade cooperation last year grew 9.3 percent, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday, calling the increase an encouraging sign for government efforts to diversify the nation’s markets.
Taiwan’s agricultural exports to the nations last year totaled US$1.43 billion, with Vietnam and Thailand the top markets at US$469 million and US$300 million respectively, the Department of International Affairs said.
Australia, Malaysia and Indonesia each bought about US$100 million of Taiwan’s agricultural exports, while Singapore purchased about US$94 million, it said.
The nation’s agricultural exports to New Zealand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore increased by 35.6 percent, 29.7 percent, 17.7 percent and 17.4 percent respectively, the department added.
The main exports were beef, pig skin, down and feathers, frozen tuna and moth orchids to Vietnam; frozen tuna and mackerel to Thailand; and frozen Japanese sea bass to Australia, showing that the fishery industry is important to Taiwan’s international trade, it said.
Pineapple cakes, crackers, instant noodles and other food products were highly competitive in Australia and Singapore, where moth orchids from Taiwan are also popular, the department said.
The council raised the profile of Taiwanese agricultural products and opened pathways to consumers by hosting events last year in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, department Director-General Hung Chung-hsiu (洪忠修) said.
The council also organized Taiwanese fruit and vegetable festivals at the three largest supermarkets in Singapore and continued expending significant resources on marketing the nation’s products, he said.
The council’s agricultural exports platform — which integrates services providing equipment, disease control and marketing capabilities — has begun operations, Hung said, adding that the aim is to increase agricultural produce by 10 percent each year.
The council welcomes farmers’ cooperatives to enroll in the platform, he said.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
RSS