Shrimp supply would not be affected if Honduras ends its diplomatic relations with Taiwan, as the nation has sufficient shrimp production to meet domestic demand, the Fisheries Agency said.
Taiwan imports 25,000 to 36,000 tonnes of whiteleg shrimp per year, 32 to 37 percent of which is from Honduras, Fisheries Agency Deputy Director-General Lin Kuo-ping (林國平) said.
Taiwan produces about 11,000 tonnes of whiteleg shrimp per year, which is sufficient to meet domestic demand, Lin said.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
The export and import of whiteleg shrimp is a trade issue on which formal diplomatic ties have no bearing, he added.
Taiwan also imports whiteleg shrimp from Nicaragua, Panama and Thailand, he said.
Bilateral trade between Taiwan and Honduras has increased since the countries signed a free-trade agreement in 2007, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said on Wednesday.
Taiwan exports about US$60 million of goods to Honduras per year and imports US$120 million of goods from the Central American nation, she said.
Whiteleg shrimp and coffee are Honduras’ two largest exports to Taiwan, she added.
Separately, the agency said it would continue to diversify the export of fishery products, even as China reinstates Taiwanese imports of frozen largehead hairtail and frozen jack mackerel.
China in August last year banned Taiwanese imports of the products, alleging that that COVID-19 could spread from the packaging.
China on Wednesday announced that imports of largehead whitetail and jack mackerel would be immediately restored.
Taiwan in 2021 exported about 4,000 tonnes of frozen jack mackerel to other countries, agency data showed.
Before China imposed the import ban, about 4,000 tonnes of frozen jack mackerel were exported from January to July last year, 40 to 50 percent of which went to China, the agency said.
Between August and December last year, about 1,700 tonnes of jack mackerel were exported to Egypt, Mozambique, Thailand and seven other nations, the agency said.
Jack mackerel exports also reached about 900 tonnes from January to last month, it said.
About 9,000 tonnes of largehead hairtail were exported to other countries in 2021, 90 percent of which was exported to China, the agency said.
From August to December last year, about 300 tonnes of largehead hairtail was exported to Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and other nations.
Exports of largehead hairtails also reached about 500 tonnes during the first two months this year, the agency added.
“We have been using criteria consistent with international standards to inspect fishery products exported to other countries. We are glad that China has canceled the requirement to test for SARS-CoV-2 on fishery products, which is incongruent with international standards,” the agency said.
“We, along with the US, Australia and India, have expressed concerns at the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee over China’s practice, which is inconsistent with trade regulations and affects trade of agricultural products across the Taiwan Strait,” it said.
The agency implemented measures to help Taiwanese fishers and retailers when China imposed the import ban, including upgrading food processing and freezer storage facilities, offering incentives for fishery exports and keeping prices at production sites stable, it said.
“We have successfully expanded the sale of Taiwanese fishery products to markets in South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and the US,” the agency said. “We will continue to help fishers sell to more high-end markets.”
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS