The nation’s total agricultural exports last year stood at US$4.89 billion, down 6.5 percent compared with in 2022, Ministry of Agriculture data showed.
The market share of Taiwanese agricultural exports to China has decreased each year since 2021, despite China being the principal export destination for Taiwanese farm goods from 2013 to 2021, at times exceeding 20 percent of produce shipments and up to 70 percent of fruit, according to the ministry.
However, the Chinese market proved volatile and prone to political manipulation, as a unilateral ban on multiple Taiwanese goods in 2021 showed.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsun, Taipei Times
In 2022, the US became Taiwan’s principal agricultural product export destination.
According to the ministry, last year Taiwan’s top trading partners were the US, which comprised 18.4 percent of agriculture exports, Japan at 14.7 percent and China at 10.2 percent.
Taiwanese agricultural exports to Hong Kong increased to US$496 million, or up 9.6 percent compared with 2022, the data showed.
Exports to Japan decreased by 16.1 percent compared with 2022, which the ministry attributed to inflation and depreciation of the yen.
Frozen fish was the most exported product last year, at US$1.12 billion, with Japan and Thailand being Taiwan’s primary export markets, the ministry said.
Regarding fresh and refrigerated fruit, Japan remains Taiwan’s largest market at 47.4 percent, with Hong Kong second, at 23.9 percent, it said.
Hong Kong has become Taiwan’s biggest export market for fresh fish at 73.7 percent, while Japan is second at 20 percent.
The ministry said Taiwan is continuing to improve in the European market, with exports to the Netherlands, Germany and UK increasing at least 10 percent compared with the previous year.
Agricultural produce exported to the United Arab Emirates has grown by 51.4 percent compared with in 2022, it said.
Separately, the top three agricultural exporters to Taiwan were the US, Brazil and China.
The main products imported from the US and Brazil are corn, soy, and wheat, while Taiwan imported more than 27,600 tonnes of granulated sugar and related products from China, up 216.5 percent compared with 2022, the statistics showed.
Taiwan also imported 52,749 tonnes of refrigerated produce, growing by 50.4 percent compared with 2022, according to the statistics.
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