International
Symposium
Agribusiness Management towards Strengthening
Agricultural Development and Trade
III : Agribusiness Research on Marketing and Trade
Fruit Marketing System in Taiwan
by
Joyce Jong-Wen Wann
Multiple Cropping Center, Chiang Mai University
National Chung Hsing University
The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
2001
III : Fruits Marketing System in Taiwan
235
Fruit Marketing System in Taiwan
1
Joyce Jong-Wen Wann
I.
History of Taiwan Agricultural Marketing
The development of Taiwan’s agricultural sector since World War II has been impressive.
Government programs, farmers’ efforts, as well as
favorable domestic and international market conditions have contributed to agricultural
growth and progress during this period. Immediately after the war, the government promoted
increased farm production, aiming to achieve pre-war levels. The pre-war level of production
was reached after ten years of intensive and continued effort. Government measures then
focused on the modernization of the agricultural marketing system.
Major government efforts to promote agricultural market development during the 1950s
included the following:
1) Construction of rice warehouses for farmers’ associations to improve storage
conditions. Most rice warehouses were badly damaged during the wartime.
2) Construction of packing houses for fruits and vegetables in the major producing areas
to facilitate improved handling during assembly, grading, and packing of perishable
commodities by small farmers.
3) Construction of assembly markets in the main production areas and terminal markets
in consumption centers for agricultural commodities to accommodate concentrated,
open, and expanding market transactions.
4)
Encouragement of cooperative marketing of hogs, fruits, and vegetables to enable
small farmers to participate in the marketing process directly.
5) Improvement in the management and operations of the marketing business handled
by cooperatives.
6) Improvement in grading and packing at the shipping point to enhance market value.
7) Training of marketing personnel to equip them with modern marketing knowledge and
1
Professor, Department of Agriucultural Economics,National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan.
Agribusiness Management towards Strengthening Agricultural Development and Trade
236
expertise.
8) Collection and dissemination of market information to help marketing participants
make efficient marketing decisions.
9) Promotion of large-scale retailing of perishable commodities to modernize retailing.
The above-mentioned measures constitute basic elements for agricultural market
development and contributed significantly to the improvement of agricultural marketing in
Taiwan. However, terminal wholesale markets, which play an important role in the marketing
system, were neglected.
Rules and Regulations
Prior to 1980, the organization, operation, and management of wholesale markets for
agricultural commodities including fruits and vegetables, livestock, and fish were governed by
the Regulations Governing the Management of Wholesale Markets for Agricultural Products,
promulgated by the provincial government and the Taipei municipal government. These were
administrative orders and had limited power for enforcement.
On August 5, 1981, the President signed the national Agricultural Commodities Market
Transaction Law In contrast to the original regulations, which covered only matters related to
wholesale markets, the new law covers all marketing functions, from assembly to retailing. In
addition, this law has the legal power for enforcement.
The provisions of the market transaction law include government marketing planning,
cooperative marketing, wholesale transaction, and retail transactions. Most of this law — 23
articles out of 35 — is related to wholesale markets.
The important stipulations of the law regarding the wholesale market are as follows:
1) The operational entity of a wholesale market should be a farmers’ organization; legal
entity organized by the local government and farmers’ associations jointly; legal entity
organized by the local government; or legal entity organized by the government, farmers’
organizations, and shippers of agricultural products.
2) The wholesale market is authorized to use public or expropriated private land as the
market site.
3) Growers, farmers’ organizations, agribusiness enterprises, shippers, and importers
can register with markets to become suppliers.
III : Fruits Marketing System in Taiwan
237
4) Retailers, secondary wholesalers, shippers, exporters, processors, and institutional
consumers, after obtaining a license from the competent government authorities, can be
buyers or wholesalers at the wholesale market.
5) The seller or buyer should not be the buyer or seller concurrently in the same
wholesale market.
6) Transactions in the wholesale market should be carried out by auction, bilateral price
negotiation, posted-price, or open tender method.
7) The wholesale market may collect service charges from sellers and buyers within the
limit approved by the national and municipal government. In the by-laws, the ceiling of the
service charge is stipulated as 5% for fruits and vegetables, 2.5% for fish, and 1.5% for
livestock and meat.
Effective performance of wholesale markets in the capital city is critical to a wellcoordinated national trade network for fresh fruits and vegetables. Wholesale markets move
agricultural products from farmers to consumers and exporters, and channel the distribution of
imports to widely dispersed consumers at a reasonable price. Transactions in wholesale
markets and signals to farmers and farmers’ associations about the profitability of crop mixes,
merits of increasing shipments of particular commodities, and possible advantages of direct
shipments to the marketplace.
Taiwan’s experience with agricultural marketing development in general, and with
wholesale marketplace improvement in particular, provides lessons for other developing
countries striving to solve similar problems.
2. Taiwan’s Fruit Marketing System
2.1 Sources of Fruits
Domestic production
Fruits are rapidly growing farm enterprises within Taiwan’s relatively declining
agriculture. The index number of fruit production, taking 1996 as the base, increased from 6.2
in 1952 to 91.5 in 1998. This implies that during the last four decades, fruit production has
expanded by nearly seventeen-fold. The area of land devoted to fruit production in 1998 was
227,144 hectares, yielding 2.37 million metric tons of fruits. Both the harvested area and
production have increased steadily during the past two decades (Table 1). This trend is
Agribusiness Management towards Strengthening Agricultural Development and Trade
238
expected to continue. In 1998, fruits accounted for 20.38% of the total value of farm
production.
The breakdown of fruit production in 1993 and 1998 is presented in Table 2. A
subtropical and tropical country, Taiwan produces many kinds of fruits in roughly equal
quantities. The most important are bananas, pineapples, and citrus fruits, which combine to
account for one-third of total production. Other important fruits include mangos, grapes,
papayas, betel nuts, guavas, longans, and pears. Production of bananas and pineapples has
been declining, and citrus fruit production has been stagnated; yet other higher-value items
have been growing steadily. Table 3 provides the value of fruit production by variety in 1993
and 1998. Significant decline of value was found in grapes, while most fruits have made some
growth in its production value.
International Trade
The main market for Taiwan fruits is domestic. In 1998, a total of 101,347 tons (or
about 4.3% of total domestic production) was exported, while 433,139 tons (or 18.3% of total
domestic production) was imported. Total volume of fruits exports continuously increased
from 1973 until 1981, then it began fluctuating downward year after year. Imports of fruits, in
contrast, have increased steadily and reached the US$300 million mark in 1992. Before 1987,
export earning from fruits showed a surplus. But starting in 1988, Taiwan became a net
importing country of fruits. Imported fruits are beginning to claim a substantial share in both
volume and value in the Taiwan market for fruits (Table 4 and Table 5). With declining
competitiveness in the international fruit market due to domestic wage increases and
shortages in farm labor, exports of fruits are expected to decrease and imports to grow
significantly.
Currently, most of the imports are fresh temperate fruits, including apples, peaches,
grapes, plums, cherry, citrus fruits, nectannes, and kiwi fruits. Imports of tropical fruits such as
durian, mangosteen and rambutan are trivial, either in quantity or in value. The United States
is the primary supplier of Taiwan’s fruit imports in volume and variety excepting the kiwi fruits
and tropical fruits. Details are shown in Table 6 and Table 7. In addition, the species of fruits
imported is increasing which reflects that the domestic fruits market is tending to be more
differentiated.
III : Fruits Marketing System in Taiwan
Table 1
Planted Area, Harvested Area and Production of Fruits, 1981-1999
Year
Source:
239
Planted Areas
Harvested Areas
Total Production
(1,000 ha)
(1,000 ha)
(1,000 ha)
1981
139
115
1,717
1982
139
115
1,598
1983
142
120
1,563
1984
150
126
1,749
1985
157
133
1,912
1986
175
145
1,838
1987
193
155
2,101
1988
214
182
2,364
1989
222
189
2,440
1990
223
191
2,327
1991
226
192
2,455
1992
226
196
2,276
1993
228
199
2,551
1994
226
199
2,434
1995
229
202
2,474
1996
230
204
2,443
1997
227
205
2,625
1998
227
207
2,369
1999
224
206
2655
Taiwan Agriculture Yearbook, Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Taiwan Provincial Government.
Agribusiness Management towards Strengthening Agricultural Development and Trade
240
Table 2 Production of Fruits by Type, 1993 & 1998
Items
1993
1998
Procuction (1,000 M.T.)
%
Procuction (1,000 M.T.)
%
Bananas
213
8.4
217
9.2
Pineapples
277
10.9
316
13.3
Citrus-Ponkans
163
6.4
137
5.9
Citrus-Tankans
75
2.9
70
3.0
Wentan Pomelos
53
2.1
76
3.2
Citrus-Liuchengs
140
5.5
111
4.7
18
0.7
13
0.5
Longans
112
4.4
53
2.2
Mangos
217
8.5
187
7.9
Betel nuts
137
5.4
173
7.3
Guavas
109
4.3
174
7.3
Wax apples
106
4.2
107
4.5
Grapes
165
6.5
73
3.1
Lichees
98
3.8
49
2.1
Pears
107
4.2
115
4.9
Papayas
152
6.0
117
4.9
Others
409
16.0
381
16.0
2,551
100.0
2,369
100.0
Grape fruits
Total
Sources: Taiwan Agricultural Yearbook, 1994 & 1999 Edition, Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Taiwan
Provincial Government, June 1994 & June 1999.
III : Fruits Marketing System in Taiwan
241
Table 3 Production Value of Fruits by Type, 1993 & 1998
Items
1993
NT$ million
1998
%
NT$ million
%
Bananas
1,808
3.7
2,588
4.5
Pineapples
3,327
6.7
4,267
7.5
Citrus-Ponkans
1,790
3.6
2,536
4.4
Citrus-Tankans
747
1.5
983
1.7
WentanPomelos
957
1.9
1,517
2.7
Citrus-Liuchengs
1,192
2.4
1,360
2.4
270
0.6
208
0.3
Longans
1,729
3.5
1,495
2.6
Mangos
4,118
8.3
4,327
7.6
Grape fruits
Betel nuts
10,310
20.8
14,151
24.7
Guavas
1,358
2.8
2,431
4.2
Wax apples
2,340
4.7
2,530
4.4
Grapes
3,966
8.0
1,997
3.5
Lichees
1,477
3.0
1,477
2.6
Pears
2,988
6.1
3,769
6.6
Papayas
1,902
3.8
1,728
3.0
Others
9,217
18.6
9,913
17.3
49,496
100.0
57,276
100.0
Total
Sources: Taiwan Agricultural Yearbook, 1994 & 1999 Edition, Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Taiwan
Provincial Government, June 1994 & June 1999.
Agribusiness Management towards Strengthening Agricultural Development and Trade
242
Table 4 Value of Exports, Imports, and Balance of Trade for Fresh and Processed
Fruits, 1985-98
Unit: US $1,000
Year
Export
Import
Balance
(1)
(2)
(1)-(2)
1985
136,534
54,692
81,840
1986
1987
145,396
71,962
73,434
160,827
111,638
49,189
1988
173,745
175,301
-1,556
1989
196,119
227,597
-31,478
1990
146,900
256,645
-109,745
1991
188,451
240,812
-52,361
1992
179,697
321,217
-141,520
1993
169,757
299,575
-129,818
1994
169,176
359,706
-190,530
1995
145,474
380,377
-234,903
1996
128,777
405,521
-276,744
1997
98,563
435,037
-336,474
1998
87,311
387,623
-300,312
Sources: Agricultural Trade Statistics of Republic of China, 1998, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, April
1999.
III : Fruits Marketing System in Taiwan
Table 5
243
Volume of Exports, Imports, and Balance of Trade for Fresh and Processed
Fruits, 1985-98
Unit : M.T.
Year
Export
Import
Balance of Trade
(1)
(2)
(1)-(2)
1985
225,940
84,359
141,581
1986
198,974
119,249
79,725
1987
199,859
179,501
20,358
1988
199,083
205,576
-6,493
1989
180,603
223,802
-43,199
1990
129,196
250,643
-121,447
1991
164,093
247,089
-82,996
1992
169,612
330,943
-161,331
1993
147,830
346,235
-198,405
1994
147,179
406,124
-258,945
1995
128,198
395,239
-267,041
1996
124,569
415,682
-291,113
1997
91,354
441,343
-349,989
1998
101,347
433,139
-331,792
Sources: Agricultural Trade Statistics of Republic of Ghina, 1998, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, April
1999.
Note:
The Standard Classification of Commodities for the Republic of China was revised to adopt the Harmonized
Commodity Description and Coding System, thus only data from 1985 onward are presented.
Agribusiness Management towards Strengthening Agricultural Development and Trade
244
Table 6
Imports of Fresh Fruits by Type and Major Sources of Supply (1999)
Unit: MT; %
Type
Import
Source
(MT)
(%)
Type
Import
Source
(MT)
(%)
Indonesia (58.15)
USA (86.49)
Thailand (40.91)
Mangosteens
5,653
Malaysia ( 0.77)
Chile ( 5.87)
Cherries
8,522
New Zealand (4.03)
USA (0.09)
Canada (1.89)
Chile ( 0.05)
Australia (1.71)
India ( 0.04)
Sweden ( 0.01)
USA (97.21)
USA (92.77)
Citrus
21,680
South Africa (4.17)
Chile ( 2.24)
Peaches
11,773
Australia ( 3.06)
Australia ( 0.52)
New Zealand ( 0.03)
Canada ( 0.01)
USA (83.74)
Grapefruits
21,472
U S.A (99.67)
Nectarines
24,777
South Africa (0 33)
Australia (12.13)
New Zealand (2.19)
Chile( 1.94)
US A (96 32)
Grapes
15,782
Chile ( 3.62)
USA (91.39)
Plums
16,442
Indonesia ( 0.06)
Australia ( 5.66)
Chile ( 2.95)
New Zealand ( 0.01)
USA
Apples
136,627
(79.99)
Chile (9.08)
New Zealand (57.25)
New Zealand (5.81)
Italy (15.34)
Australia (1.43)
France (13.99)
Japan (1.31)
Kiwifruits
12,092
USA( 9.17)
South Africa (0.87)
Australia ( 3.33)
Canada (0.72)
Chile ( 0.91)
France (0.72)
Mainland (0.07)
Sources: Monthly Statistics of Exports and Imports, the Republic of China Taiwan District, 1999, the Statistics
Department Directorate General of Customs Ministry of Finance, 2000.
III : Fruits Marketing System in Taiwan
245
Table 7 Values of Fresh Fruit Imports by Type and Major Sources of Supply (1999)
Type
Mangosteens
Value
Source
(NT$1000)
(%)
226,238
Type
Value
Source
(NT$1000)
(%)
Indonesia(65.48)
USA (81.49)
Thailand(33 .63)
Chile ( 7.25)
Malaysia( 0.74)
Cherries
578,047
USA (0.07)
New Zealand ( 6.65)
Australia ( 2.62)
Chile(0.04)
Canada( 1.98)
India( 0.03)
Switzerland( 0.02)
USA (96.45)
USA (92.58)
Citrus
293,391
South Africa( 4.58)
Chile ( 2.77)
Peaches
461,442
Australia ( 2.85)
Australia ( 0.73)
New Zealand ( 0.04)
Canada ( 0.01)
USA (79.31)
Grapefruits
320,882
USA (99.63)
Nectarines
644,762
South Afiica ( 0.37))
Australia (15.03)
Chile ( 3.17)
New Zealand (2.50)
USA (96.44)
Grapes
563,385
Chile ( 3.44)
USA (89.41)
Plums
378,078
Indonesia ( 0.12)
Australia ( 6.96)
Chile ( 3.62)
New Zealand ( 0.02)
Apples
New Zealand ( 7.15)
New Zealand (58.24)
Japan (2.47)
Italy (13.57)
2,667,789 Australia (1.47)
Kiwifruits
480,015
France (14.01)
South Africa (0.92)
USA (9.91)
France ( 0.65)
Australia ( 3.49)
Canada (0.63)
Chile (0.79)
Mainland( 0.08)
Sources: Monthly Statistics of Exports and Imports, the Republic of China Taiwan District, 1999, the Statistics
Department Directorate General of Customs Ministry of Finance, 2000.
Agribusiness Management towards Strengthening Agricultural Development and Trade
246
2.2 Structure of Fruit Marketing
Today, nearly 95% of fruits grown in Taiwan move to domestic markets through
different channels, each associated with various marketing stages (Figure 1). The virtual
agricultural products market is developing rapidly along with increasingly prosperous
electronic commerce. However, local fresh fruits are mostly marketed via the following three
channels:
1) The shippers’ channel:
farmer → shipper → wholesaler → jobber/ retailer → consumer
This channel is also called the traditional channel and is typical to all fruits grown
in Taiwan. It is the longest marketing channel, for fresh fruits would be transferred at least
four times before reaching consumers’ hands. Today, this channel accounts for about 70% of
total fruit marketing.
2) Farmers’ cooperative marketing channel:
farmers' cooperative → wholesale market → jobber, retailer → consumer
This channel was created in June 1973 by the government for helping local
farmer cooperatives to ship fresh products jointly, from production areas to consumption
places, via those fruit and vegetable wholesale markets.
3) Direct marketing channel:
farmers' cooperative produce → packing/distribution center → supermarket
chains → consumer
This channel was established in 1991. This channel, which has increased
importance in recent years, consists of the selling of produce by grower cooperatives directly
to retail stores, restaurants, and institutions. Although it is not strictly farmer-to-consumer
direct marketing, the aim is to stabilize farm income and reduce the marketing margins.
On the other hand, the marketing system of imported fruits is rather simple.
Importers normally distribute imported fruits to wholesalers directly, only a few sold to large
institutional consumption units or jobbers.
Taiwan Fruit
Marketing
Cooperative
Exporting
Hypermarkets
Fruit Specialty
Stores
Wet Markets
Farms
Farmers
Farmers’ Associations
Shippers
Jobbers
Retailers
Supermarkets
Farmer Organizations
Stall Vendors
Others
E-Commerce
Virtual Markets
Figure 1 Marketing Channels of Fruits in Taiwan
Consumers
248
3.
Agribusiness Management towards Strengthening Agricultural Development and Trade
Organizations of Fruits Marketing
In Taiwan, most fruit growers are small-scale, usually lacking market information and
marketing capital, so shippers in the traditional marketing channel normally dominate the
terms of the marketing trade. In order to improve produce marketing, the government assisted
and guided Farmer organizations, to carry out cooperative marketing programs for shipping
fruits and vegetables to the wholesale markets in major consumption areas after 1973. The
government has also made great efforts to improve the transaction practices for produce, to
assist group farmers financially in building assembling lots and purchasing equipment, as well
as to develop better grading and packing methods. Hence, cooperative marketing has been
widely adopted by the producers in major growing areas. The township farmers’ associations,
the agricultural production cooperatives and the Taiwan Fruit Marketing Cooperative are the
three main organizations handling fruits cooperative marketing. The three together consist of
more than 300 fruit cooperative units. In 1998, the total volume of cooperative fruits marketing
was 157,143 M.T., of which 75% was shipped to the Taipei market and 23.5% the Sanchung
market. The market share of fruits by cooperative marketing in Taipei and Sanchung was
53% and 24%, respectively.
4. Consumption Patterns
In 1998, per capita consumption, more precisely food availability as measured in the food
balance sheets, was 57 kilograms of rice, 105 kilograms of vegetables, 135 kilograms of
fruits, and 79 kilograms of meats (Table 8). During the past two decades, rice consumption
has decreased dramatically, from 100 kilograms in 1980 to 58 kilograms in 1998. The
consumption of fruits, and meats, in contrast, has increased significantly, from 70 kilograms,
and 43 kilograms in 1980 to 135 kilograms, and 79 kilograms respectively in 1998. The
general trend is away from starchy foods including rice and sweet potatoes toward more
vitamin-rich foods, such as vegetables and fruits, and more protein-and fat-rich foods, such as
meats. The average nutrition intake from all foods in 1997 was 3,129 calories of energy, 101
grams of protein, and 131 grams of fat per day. The changing food consumption pattern can
be explained by increasing incomes and rising living standards of the general public.
According to a nationwide consumption survey conducted by Asian Vegetable Research
and Development Center in 1998, the daily per capita expenditure made on food is NT$ 139.
Twenty-two percent of the daily food expenditure goes to vegetables, 18% each to fruits, fish,
meat, 4% to rice, 5% to other cereals, 6% to milk, eggs, and beans, and 8% to other foods.
III : Fruits Marketing System in Taiwan
249
Table 8 Per Capita Availability of Selected Food Items, 1980-1998
Unit: Kg
Year
Rice (Polished)
Vegetables
Fruits
1980
100.82
129.58
70.16
42.62
1981
96.54
115.60
80.51
42.99
1982
93.87
118.21
71.74
46.36
1983
90.32
116.61
68.42
44.16
1984
87.17
129.08
74.73
51.67
1985
85.97
127.07
82.01
54.30
1986
85.00
118.29
80.02
56.84
1987
78.18
125.35
93.91
57.69
1988
73.55
122.10
104.25
57.79
1989
69.66
117.55
108.03
60.30
1990
68.17
105.91
108.92
61.86
1991
67.56
114.44
107.15
63.48
1992
62.23
97.93
129.82
67.17
1993
60.70
98.77
144.58
70.33
1994
59.89
93.33
136.54
72.39
1995
59.10
101.86
137.42
76.07
1996
58.80
108.85
138.83
75.04
1997
58.40
108.27
150.08
77.31
56.74
104.93
135.53
78.77
1998
Source:
Taiwan Food Balance Sheet, Council of Agriculture.
Note:
Availability Production lmports Exports ± Changes in Stocks Losses and Shrinkages.
5.
Meat
Efficiency of Fruits Marketing
The efficiency of the fruit marketing system has often been criticized due to increasing
marketing margins, poor packing methods, high wastage, and inconsistent grading. In
general, pricing efficiency, performance of wholesale markets, and progress of cooperative
marketing are the issues most agricultural economists would choose for examining the status
of marketing efficiency.
250
Agribusiness Management towards Strengthening Agricultural Development and Trade
5.1 Pricing Efficiency
Empirical studies have found that fruit markets are not competitive because of
incomplete farm-wholesale-retail price transmission and asymmetric bargaining powers
between sellers and buyers. On the other hand, fruit retailers are often suspected of
possessing a certain degree of market power since they usually adopt either constant or fixed
proportion in the mark-up of prices. The traditional approach to analyse these issues is to
decompose marketing margins into costs, transportation losses, and gross return based on
survey data. Subsequently, retailers’ average net returns are estimated in order to determine
whether they receive normal or excessive returns. Since selling fruit is a labour-intensive
activity and is mostly a family business, net returns earned by fruit retailers are hard to
estimate. Thus, it can be expected that such accounting-based studies are not able to provide
a convincing conclusion regarding pricing efficiency.
5.2 Performance of Wholesale Markets
Presently, there are 63 fruit and vegetable wholesale markets in Taiwan, established
and owned either by the local government, farmers’ associations, or as joint ventures
between the two. These markets are nonprofit organizations with the primary goal of serving
farmers. Among the 63 fruit and vegetable wholesale markets, only three have entirely
adopted an auction system, the others are mainly of the price negotiating type. The
importance of wholesale markets has continuously risen, especially in the value of transaction
during the last decade. Currently, approximately 50% of annual fruit production is traded via
wholesale markets.
Most fruit and vegetable wholesale markets in the consumption areas face serious
space problems. More than twenty years of experience with the wholesale market operated
by Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Corporation, for example, has demonstrated the
shortage of facilities for auction, trading, and packing, as well as environmental deterioration
due to surrounding traffic congestion. On the other hand, some wholesale markets in the
production area have faced shrinking volume of trading due to structural changes in the
industry and/or the increasing role of cooperative marketing. There are also markets, which
have through the illegal activities of management authorities, all but lost their original
wholesale function.
III : Fruits Marketing System in Taiwan
251
5.3 Performance of Cooperative Marketing
Cooperative marketing in Taiwan has been promoted in some fashion for more than
twenty years. Since the inauguration of the Taiwan Fruit and Vegetable Corporation (renamed
in 1984 as the Taipei Agricultural Product Marketing Corporation), volumes handled by fruit
cooperative marketing have increased annually, and the market share in terms of total
production has gradually increased from less than 1% in 1980 to over 6% in 1998.
While wholesale markets in consumption areas are the major outlets for products
marketed by farmers' cooperative, nearly 80% of the fruits from cooperatives are
concentrated in the two Taipei wholesale markets. This situation indicates that the number of
outlets for products marketed by farmer cooperatives is limited. Meanwhile, the performance
of cooperative marketing has been unsatisfactory, despite implementing production planning
since 1978. Inconsistent grading and packing of cooperative produce has yet to be corrected.
6. Conclusion and Policy Implications
6.1 Impacts of Agricultural Trade Liberalization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has established rules for reducing or
eliminating both tariff and non-tariff trade bafflers. Taiwan is preparing to participate in WTO.
Therefore, competitions in both international and domestic markets for agricultural products
can be expected to increase. How rapid growth in fruits imports would affect the farm sector
and what kind of action fruit growers could take to survive become important tasks for the
authorities to deal with.
6.2 The Impacts of Changing Business Organization and Operation
Apart from the traditional family firm, the growing supermarket chains, fruit specialty
stores and discount wholesale stores control increasingly more marketing function in the fruit
distribution system. Effects of increased market competition on producers, agribusiness,
marketers and consumers need to be investigated.
6.3 The Benefit of Direct Marketing on Farmers and Consumers
As created in 1991, direct marketing for produce is believed to be more efficient than
other marketing channels. In fact, there is no sufficient evidence to support this belief so far.
Moreover, most farmers with relatively small production feel they should concentrate on
farming rather than involve themselves in marketing.
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Agribusiness Management towards Strengthening Agricultural Development and Trade
6.4 Preferences of Consumers
Consumption behavior for fruits has been a neglected area of research.
Nevertheless, understanding the features of fruit consumption is critical to the success of the
fruit industry. To persist the demand for domestic grown fruits, more sophisticated packing
methods and products, with better quality, and pesticide-safe are the key factors to pay
attention to. Besides, a complete consumption information system of agricultural products
needs to be established sooner or later.
Reference
Council of Agriculture, 1999, Taiwan Food Balance Sheet. Various issues, Executive Yuan,
Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C..
_______, 1998, Taiwan Food Balance Sheet. Various issue, Executive Yuan, Taipei,Tiwan,
R.O.C..
Department of Agriculture and Forestry, 1999, Taiwan Provincial Government, Taiwan
Agricultural Yearbook , Various issues, Nantou, Taiwan, R.O.C..
_______, 1994, Tiwan Provicial Government, Taiwan Agricultural Yearbook, Various issues,
Nantou, Taiwan, R.O.C..
_______, Taiwan Provincial Government, Taiwan Area Agricultural Products Wholesale
Market Yearbook , various issues, Nantou, Taiwan, R.O.C..