V.
MARKET OPPORTUNITIES
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Taiwan
has one of the
highest per capita GDP and household
disposable incomes rates in Asia. Taiwanese consumers demand high quality
product at a competitive price.
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With
Taiwan's limited arable land, it will depend
on other countries, such as the Philippines,
for the supply of some agricultural products,
such as fresh fruits
(bananas, mangoes, pineapples, papayas,
coconuts) and vegetables (asparagus, cabbage,
lettuce, maize and cocoa beans).
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Taiwan imports
of primary
and processed seafood products reached
approximately US$ 294 million in 2005. The
demand for imported seafood of all kinds is
strong due to growing affluence, a lowering of
Taiwan's trade barriers, depleted marine resources
in the sea around Taiwan and an international ban on drift-net fishing.
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The
potential for labor-intensive processed foods
in
Taiwan
, which are at present being considered for
relocation to other countries, is very
promising.
These processed food are:
-
Corn
chips, fish crackers, fortune cookies,
broas and
other processed
foods that match with "Home
Order" - a trend that is becoming very
popular in Taiwan
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Coconut
products such as desiccated coconut (DCN),
coconut chips and macaroon since Taiwan's demand for the finer DCN is getting
bigger, due to its increasing application
in the making of confectionery, bakery and
other food products.
-
Tropical
fruit juices and purees.
It
is important to note, however, that the
Taiwanese still prefers products that are
neither too sweet nor salty and with
plain/light colors.
Moreover, food safety is of great
importance to Taiwan and all food manufacturers/exporters are urged
by its government
to comply with its domestic regulations
on food safety requirements such as
traceability - a food control system from farm
to fork that ensures products will not have
any problem at the border.
-
Handicrafts,
another labor-intensive products, has good
potential in Taiwan since this industry is at present also being
considered for relocation to other countries.
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Taiwan lowered its average tariff rate to 5.53% from
the original 8.2% since its WTO accession on
01 January 2002.
Services
liberalization has been taking place in Taiwan since the early 1990s, first in financial
services, followed by telecommunications,
infrastructure and construction. After
Taiwan's accession to the WTO, the pace and
scope of liberalization were further
accelerated and market-opening measures
included:1) permitting foreign lawyers to
practice in Taiwan subject to appropriate
limitations; 2) abolishing limits on the ratio
of foreign investments in air-cargo forwarding
and air-cargo entreport business and 3)
removing the controls on the ratio of local
films on screen, the number of screenings of
films from a single country, the number of
copies of a film that may be imported, and
eliminating the domestic-film support fee
levied on foreign films.
In
the last five years (2002-2006), Taiwan's direct investments in the
Philippines grew 46.95%, from US$1.92 billion in 2002 to
US$ 6.97 billion in 2006. With the signing of
an agreement on promotion and protection of
investments between Philippines and Taiwan
in January 2006, the country anticipates more
inward investments from Taiwan, especially in the areas of electronics and
semiconductor, automotive and parts,
information communication technology and
IT-enabled services.
Source:
The World Factbook 2007, Wold Trade Organization,
HK
Trade Develoment Council, Bureau of Foreign Trade,
Board of Investment,
Report on the Offshore Business
Matching/Technology Mission last June20-25, 2007
and Intelligence reports from PTIC-Taipei.
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