Siyi Chen, Shanghai Office, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board

Taiwan has a high GDP per capita of US$44,000, and its fishing industry is worth US$2bn/year; its population currently consumes 35kg of fish per capita each year, 1.75 times the global average. However due to a slowdown in the economy the tendency amongst seafood buyers is to replace higher value items with cheaper supply sources. During a recent visit seafood importers cited Pakistan as a supply source for razor clams, S Korea for oysters and Chile as their main salmon supplier. This highlights particularly the difficulties in the midrange foodservice market to make money due to customers tendency to trade down. Taiwan is a market known worldwide for its “street food culture” with most families eating out during the week.

However given the high level of consumption Taiwan remains a large importer of seafood.

Main seafood species that Taiwan imports include:

• Salmon: mainly whole fresh or whole frozen, gutted with head
• Mackerel: mainly whole frozen. 50 – 70% supplied by Norway.
• European mackerel is preferred due to the higher oil content of 20 – 25% (while local mackerel only 5 – 10%).
• Irish brown crab is known in the market, but still relatively new to traders. It is the most recognized seafood from Ireland.
• Scallop: frozen and prepared, most scallops are from Japan or mainland China.

(Source: Orrani Consulting)

Ireland’s exports to Taiwan are not significant, but growing, especially in cooked crabs.

In spite of the slowed economy, there are opportunities for Irish seafood such as brown crab & whelk meat , but generally quite conservative and limited potential to be explored compared to mainland China market.

For Irish seafood companies targeting this market, coinciding a visit with one of the following Trade fairs would be helpful – Taipei International Food Show in mid June and Taiwan International Fisheries & Seafood Show in November in Kaohsiung. Taipei International Food Show is much bigger and includes every food category. The seafood show in Kaohsiung is relatively smaller scale but takes place directly after the China seafood Fair in Qingdao, 9-11 November.

For more information please contact Siyi.Chen@BordBia.ie