The Ministry of Agriculture yesterday said it would prioritize imports of prepackaged eggs in future programs to avoid the controversies incurred by a special import program this year.
When facing an egg shortage at the start of the year, agriculture officials in the special egg import program purchased about 140 million eggs from abroad, Department of Animal Industry Director-General Chang Ching-wei (張經緯) told the Cabinet.
The import program had achieved the desired result of ensuring a steady supply and inhibiting erratic price hikes, Chang said.
Photo: Liu Yu-ching, Taipei Times
In the ministry’s report to the Cabinet, Chang estimated that overall benefits derived from the program totaled about NT$6 billion (US$186.85 million) — about 10 times the amount paid by the ministry for the imported eggs.
“This program specifically dealt with the shortage to fill domestic demand for eggs. It had limited conditions for the time frame and country of origin,” Chang said.
As the ministry did not reduce import tariffs, “it would not affect the prices provided by domestic egg producers, protecting their revenue,” he added.
Negotiations resulted in deals with 12 countries, for which egg imports are open through this year for Paraguay, Guatemala, Singapore, Canada and Turkey, and until the end of June next year for Japan, the US, Australia, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, he said.
Chang said that the new measures would see the imported eggs held in reserve released in a timely fashion for processing, and that they would not be sold at retail outlets.
“We are constantly monitoring the situation, and will pick up on the special import program when the egg shortage surpasses 10 percent nationwide,” he added. “In principle, future imports will require washing and packaging in the country of origin, while the eggs must be under cold-chain storage inside its own packaging. Each shipment must be registered with the Food and Drug Administration, which will publish testing results at regular intervals.”
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) also said that imported eggs were not past their expiration date, which is a misconception being circulated on social media.
Chen said the ministry plans to import 330,000 chicken broilers this year, and increase its quota for egg-laying hens to 34 million to meet domestic demand.
The ministry would also provide NT$4.4 billion in additional investment to build new cold-storage chains and upgrade chicken farms to create more animal-friendly living conditions, he added.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
COMMUNITY SPIRIT: As authorities were busy with post-typhoon cleanups elsewhere, residents cleaned fallen leaves and cut small fallen trees blocking the hiking trails All hiking trails damaged by Typhoon Kong-rey have been repaired and has reopened for people who want a refreshing hike in Taipei during the Lunar New Year holiday, a city official said. The Taipei Basin is known for its easily accessible hiking trails. It has more than 130 trails combined into the 92km-long Taipei Grand Trail, which was divided into seven major routes when it was launched by the Taipei City Government in 2018. Last year, a part of the sixth route of the Grand Trail collapsed due to Typhoon Kong-rey, which hit Taiwan in October. The damaged section belongs to one
RSS