TRADE
Japan leading fruit importer
Japan has overtaken China to become the largest importer of fruit from Taiwan this year after a Japan-based trading company pledged to purchase 5,100 tonnes of fruit from the nation, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday. Wismettac Foods Inc president Hiroshi Tsujikawa signed an agreement with the COA in Tokyo to purchase a minimum of 3,500 tonnes of pineapples, 1,500 tonnes of bananas and 100 tonnes of frozen pineapples per year. Japan bought about 56.6 percent of Taiwan’s fruit exports from January to October this year, supplanting China in Taiwan’s fruit sales, COA Deputy Minister Chen Tien-shou (陳添壽) said, adding that Japan bought 28.9 percent of Taiwan’s food exports last year.
WEATHER
Wet weather set to linger
Cool and wet weather is likely to persist today in northern parts of Taiwan due to seasonal northeasterly winds, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The lowest temperature recorded yesterday in low-lying areas was 15.2°C in Keelung’s Cidu District (七堵) at 7:30am, bureau data showed. Localized showers are expected today in the north and east alongside a slight temperature rise, as the weather in northern Taiwan remains cool and wet, National Central University weather forecaster Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said. Tomorrow, cloudy and sunny skies should prevail throughout Taiwan, with temperatures rebounding significantly, he said. However, another wave of northeasterly winds is forecast for Sunday, bringing occasional showers to northern coastal areas and northeastern Taiwan and pushing the temperatures lower, he added.
LABOR
Employers to pay insurance
About 150,000 live-in migrant caregivers in Taiwan must be covered by their employers for quarterly work-related injury insurance premiums, the Ministry of Labor said as it prepares to send out the latest premium payment notifications. Under the Labor Occupational Hazard Insurance and Protection Act (勞工職業災害保險及保護法), which took effect on May 1, migrant caregivers must be covered by occupational accident insurance against work-related injuries, and the premium must be paid in full by their employers. The premium for live-in caregivers’ insurance has been calculated on a minimum monthly wage of NT$25,250 under the act, which overrides their actual minimum wage of NT$20,000 under the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), the ministry said. As a result, the quarterly insurance premium for live-in migrant caregivers is about NT$135, ministry officials said.
LEISURE
Renovated zoo to reopen
Kaohsiung’s Shoushan Zoo is scheduled to reopen on Dec. 16 after the completion of a one-year reconstruction project, featuring greater accessibility for visitors and more facilities for families, the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau said on Wednesday. The zoo, which broke ground on its NT$550 million (US$17.95 million) reconstruction project in August last year, is to feature a 440m-long elevated walkway that connects several animal enclosures, the department said. The skywalk joins four observation corridors from where visitors can view animals up close without disturbing them, and two themed observation points that provide access to capybara and black bears, it said. Improvements have also been made to provide the animals with cleaner and better ventilated living environments, it added.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
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