The Ministry of Agriculture is launching a series of measures to boost the demand for Taiwan-
produced fresh milk to minimize the impact of the removal of tariffs on dairy products imported from New Zealand from 2025.
The zero-tariff policy for dairy products imported from New Zealand is part of an economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and New Zealand, called ANZTEC, which was signed on July 10, 2013.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
At a joint meeting of four legislative committees yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee De-wei (李德維) asked Acting Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) how the policy would affect the domestic fresh milk market.
“We have been holding talks with dairy farming industry representatives in the past year... The most important thing is to increase the demand for Taiwan-produced milk and distinguish it from milk imported from other countries,” Chen said.
The agricultural industry is redesigning the label for Taiwan-produced fresh milk and has developed the technology to identify any mixture of domestically produced milk and imported milk, he said.
Lee said the ministry should consider not calling imported liquid milk “fresh milk” to distinguish it from locally produced milk.
Chen said that the quality of Taiwan-produced fresh milk, as well as its low-carbon emission production process, should be recognized and affirmed by domestic consumers, which is a better way to distinguish between these two types of milk.
Chen told a meeting of the Economics Committee on Wednesday last week that the ministry is seeking approval from the Executive Yuan for a proposal to establish a four-year dairy farming industry development fund to mitigate the impact that the new policy might have on the domestic dairy farming industry.
The funding would be used to upgrade the local dairy farming industry, create demand for domestically produced dairy products and facilitate sales of these products, he said.
“We need to review the size of dairy cattle. Of the roughly 125,000 dairy cows in the country, 12,000 sick and weak ones are to be retired,” he said.
“We will seek to reduce the costs that dairy farmers spend to buy forage grass and incorporate the weather forecast system into the grass-drying process,” he said.
“We will also monitor the quality of domestically produced milk, coordinate the pricing scheme between ranches and dairy plants, reduce carbon emissions during the production process and facilitate the sales of domestically produced milk,” he added.
To boost demand for Taiwan-made dairy products, the government would increase the supply of fresh milk to school-age children and elderly people in farming and fishing villages, Chen said.
There would also be a traceability system for Taiwan-made dairy products, it said.
Some dairy farmers have suggested that the ministry intervene and help lower shelf placement fees for domestically produced dairy products in supermarkets or larger retail chains, as the fees generally account for 30 to 50 percent of retail prices.
“Pricing strategies for dairy products are determined based on various contracts between dairy plants and supermarkets, and it would be difficult for the government to intervene,” Chen said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS