The US and Japan replaced China as the largest buyers of Taiwanese agricultural goods in the first half of this year, the Council of Agriculture said on Tuesday as is spoke of its market diversification strategy.
The three largest buyers of Taiwanese agricultural products were the US, Japan and China between January and last month, which respectively accounted for 18.6 percent, 16.4 percent and 13.7 percent of the exported goods, the council said.
Taiwan exported 948,000 tonnes of agricultural goods in the first six months of this year, 13.6 percent less than the 1,0970,000 tonnes in the same period last year, the council said.
Photo: CNA
The value of agricultural exports in the first half was NT$2.62 billion (US$87.58 million), 5.5 percent less than NT$277 billion in the same period last year.
Exports with the most significant growth in the US market were fruit, fruit juices, tea, cassava starch, pastries and snacks, with export volumes increasing by up to 40 percent, it said.
The overall drop in exports was the result of climate-related instabilities in production, said Lin Chih-hung (林志鴻), deputy director-general of the council’s Department of International Affairs.
The high costs of global shipping caused by the COVID-19 pandemic accounted for the remainder of the decline, he said.
China’s bans on Taiwanese fruit and farm-raised fish damaged local sectors that had long relied on China as their most important overseas buyer, Lin said, adding that the council remains optimistic that it can find alternative markets in the second half of the year.
Formerly Taiwan’s largest agricultural trade partner, China accounted for more than 20 percent of the sector’s exports from 2015 to last year.
The pattern changed in the first half of this year as China’s share of Taiwan’s fruit exports plummeted from 84 percent to 1.8 percent amid concerns about risks in its market.
Taiwan is gradually weaning itself off the Chinese market, a move largely motivated by the high levels of uncertainty created by Beijing, said Roy Chun Lee (李淳), senior deputy CEO of the Taiwan WTO & RTA Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.
Taiwan’s growth in exports to the US, Japan and Europe is beneficial to the development of Taiwan’s agricultural sector, and helps avoid political risks, he said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to