January 4, 2021
 

Restaurants in Taiwan under pressure to raise prices due to potential, increased cost of locally-produced pork

Restaurants and hotel chains in Taiwan said they are under pressure to increase prices to accommodate the expected higher cost of pork produced in the country.

This comes as health concerns were raised concerning a new policy, that would permit pork imports containing ractopamine, came into effect on January 1. Restaurant and hotel chain operators' potential move to increase prices are attributed to vendors of Taiwanese pork who are planning to raise prices following the implementation of the policy.

Several major restaurant chains in Taiwan, such as Wowprime Corp., TTFB Restaurant Group, Hi-Lai Foods, 8 Way Dumplings and Tofu Restaurant Group, as well as Silks Hotel Group and LDC Hotels & Resorts Group, said they now use only ractopamine-free pork produced in the country or from ractopmaine-free countries.

A restaurant chain operator told CNA that although most imported pork does not contain ractopamine, almost all restaurants believe the only way to convince customers of the safety of their products is to use only Taiwanese pork.

This will lead to significantly higher domestic pork prices and increase the costs of restaurants. However, they are reluctant to increase prices as that will impact their businesses, the operator said.

Another senior manager at a restaurant chain told CNA that despite the central government's latest policy, many local governments continue to ban ractopmaine.

The manager called on the central government to come up with a single standard nationwide on the use of ractopmaine so that restaurant operators have clear guidelines to follow.

The policy was announced after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on August 28 said her administration would set maximum residue levels (MRL) for ractopamine in pork to allow imports from the United States, starting January 1, 2021 in an apparent effort to clear the way for a trade deal with the country.

- Focus Taiwan