September 26, 2020

Taiwan puts up $343-million fund to help pig farmers compete with US pork imports

Taiwan's Council of Agriculture (COA) has announced the establishment of a NT$10-billion (US$342.96-million) fund to help the pig farming industry in the face of US pork products' entry into the local market in 2021.

The fund would be used to improve pens, wastewater processing facilities, slaughtering equipment and meat product logistics, the council said, as per report of the Taipei Times.

The fund is expected to benefit some 7,000 registered hog farmers, many of whom have resorted to using food waste to feed black pigs, which are the most competitive breed in Taiwan due to their high-quality pork.    

The new policy allowing the import of US pork containing the leanness-inducing feed additive ractopamine will take effect in January 2021.

Local pig farmers fear that consumers will stop buying pork of any kind to avoid eating meat that contains ractopamine.

They also want that with the fund, the government will buy live pigs when the price falls below breeding costs so as to stabilise pig prices.

The report, meanwhile, said that the industry is unafraid of competing with US pork imports, confident that domestic customers prefer Taiwanese pork products, which are considered to be high-quality.

Moreover, Taiwan's success at eradicating foot-and-mouth disease has allowed it to resume exporting pork products.