Taiwanese dancing-doll orchids account for 90 percent of the Japanese dancing-doll orchid market, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, adding that Japan has become Taiwan’s second-largest flower and seedling export market.
A delegation led by Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) on Wednesday met with representatives of Ota Floriculture Auction Co during their visit to the Foodex Japan exhibition in Tokyo.
Citing a presentation by Ota Floriculture development department manager Takeshi Matsunaga, the ministry said the Ota Flower Market is the fourth-biggest flower market in the world.
Photo: Chen Yen-ting, Taipei Times
It is the most significant platform for flower auction and distribution in Japan, through which about 80 percent of flowers in the country are delivered to customers, Matsunaga was cited as saying.
Taiwanese dancing-doll orchid exports to Japan made up 90 percent of the species’ market in the country, while moth orchids and flamingo flowers accounted for about 50 percent in their respective markets, Matsunaga said.
Taiwan-grown flowers are high quality and have been widely recognized by Japan’s floriculture industry and consumers, he said.
Taiwan-grown flowers exported to Japan were previously mostly used for business, such as decoration for public spaces or funerals, the ministry said.
However, the ministry has in recent years begun collaborating with the domestic flower industry to explore other ways to enter the Japanese floriculture market, given that the aging workforce in the Japanese floriculture industry has become a challenge.
Data from Taiwan Floriculture Exports Association’s Taiwan Floriculture News showed that fresh-cut dancing-doll orchid plants were priced from ￥173 to ￥293 (US$1.09 to US$1.85) in Tokyo in January.
Dancing-doll orchids planted in six-inch pots were priced at about ￥1,500, while moth orchids of the same size were priced from ￥3,200 to nearly ￥5,000, it showed.
Taiwan’s flower and seedling exports totaled NT$6.05 billion (US$189.98 million) last year, of which exports to Japan accounted for nearly 30 percent at NT$1.77 billion, making it one of Taiwan’s major flower export markets, second only to the US, the ministry said.
While dancing-doll orchids are the most popular flower in major flower auction markets in Japan, other species, such as moth orchids, lisianthuses or flamingo flowers have also carved a good market share, it said.
The ministry will continue to assist the industry in developing new flower species and a more resilient global supply chain amid an economic slowdown and rising geopolitical conflicts, it added.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
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
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
RSS