October 14, 2014
Taiwan poultry imports from US rise 45% in first 7 months
Taiwan''s poultry imports from the US increased by 44.8% in volume to 87,415 tonnes during the first seven months of the year compared with the same period last year, data from the US Department of Agriculture''s Foreign Agricultural Service showed.
The figure is just around 7,000 tonnes short of the entire year''s import of 94,306 tonnes in 2013.
Local consumers have also been noted to have switched from pork to chicken after the outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus (PEDv) in Taiwan earlier this year, especially since imported pork has been more expensive than chicken.
Taiwan''s Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) reported that "according to foodservice operators, especially the catering industry, there are smaller margins in pork meals due to higher pork prices." In Taipei, for example, "a lunch box costs an average of NT$80-NT$90 (US$2.60-$3.00), which is up nearly 10% from the previous year."
"The food-service industry pays approximately NT$13 (US$0.43) per portion for the pork loin meal while they only pay NT$8 (US$0.27) for one chicken drumstick," the ATO report added.
The ATO also reported that more and more local consumers were choosing chicken breasts, although leg quarters and drumsticks remained the products of choice.
Taiwan is only 80% self-sufficient in poultry products. The balance 20% is taken care of by imports, mostly come from the US and Canada.
Meanwhile, at a recent meeting, finance, economic and agriculture officials decided to cut the import duties on lard and pig fat by half from 20% to 10% and 18% to 9%, respectively, to prevent shortages of lard-based oils triggered by the recent discovery that domestic cooking oil companies had been using raw materials not fit for human consumption.
The tariff cut proposal still needs to be approved by the Executive Yuan, the executive office of the Taipei government.
Lard is used in the manufacture of traditional snacks and dumplings while lard-based cooking oil is used by restaurants and street-food vendors to deep-fry foods.
The lowered tariffs were recommended to be in effect for a period of six months, after which a review would be made whether the lower tariffs would be extended or stopped or even cut further, an official who attended the meeting was quoted in a news report.