• By Lin Liang-sheng and Liu Tzu-hsuan/staff reporter, with a staff writer

The National Policy Foundation on Monday called on the government to hold trade talks with Japan and the United States over their bans on Taiwanese pork imports.

Taiwanese pork exports fell from 1,664 tons in 2020 to 66 tons last year, down 96 percent, said the foundation, a think tank affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

While the government lifted an import ban on U.S. pork containing traces of ractopamine and an 11-year ban on food products from five Japanese prefectures after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, it “n’t dare not ask the United States and Japan to lift their bans on Taiwanese pork imports,” the foundation said.

On August 28, 2020, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) announced that Taiwan would begin allowing imports of pork containing traces of ractopamine from the United States, which came into effect on January 1 of the last year.

On February 21, Taiwan began importing food products from Japan’s five prefectures.

Citing data from the ROC Swine Association, the foundation said pork has since 1986 overtaken rice to have the highest production value of any local agricultural product.

The hog industry peaked in November 1996, with 25,357 hog farms and over 10.7 million hogs, generating up to NT$88.6 billion ($3.13 billion at current exchange rates) in production value, the foundation said, citing a Council of Agriculture (COA) report.

Taiwan was once the second-largest pork exporter, sending 272,000 tonnes overseas in 1997, of which 269,000 were sold to Japan for $1.54 billion, according to the report.

In the same year, at least 3.85 million pigs were culled after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which cost the industry at least NT$170 billion, according to a COA estimate, forcing many pig farmers to exit the market, the foundation said.

At the end of November last year, only 6,308 pig farms raising 5.472 million pigs were operating, about half the number before the foot-and-mouth outbreak, he said.

The foundation criticized the council’s efforts to boost pork exports after launching a four-year, NT$12.83 billion pig raising fund last year.

Despite the hit to the pork export market, imports have shown steady annual growth, reaching 62,000 tonnes last year at $190 million, the foundation said.

On June 16, 2020, the World Organization for Animal Health declared Taiwan a foot-and-mouth disease-free zone where vaccination is not practiced, allowing pork exports to resume after a 24-year hiatus, the agency said. foundation.

The pork has since been exported to South Africa and Singapore, but not to Japan, which was once Taiwan’s biggest export market, he added.

Taiwanese pork costs more because it is of higher quality, and therefore the industry should target high-end markets such as European countries, Japan and the United States, he added.

Taiwan should take advantage of its swine fever prevention and “negotiate with Japan to import pork from Taiwan and help Taiwan join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership,” the foundation said.