In order to address the hog supply shortage, Premier Jiang Yi-huah enjoined the Council of Agriculture (COA) to coordinate with the National Animal Industry Foundation (NAIF) and importers of frozen meat to release frozen pork to the market in a timely fashion to meet demand.
The COA should also adapt its measures to ensure stable pork prices and sufficient fresh pork for rituals during the Ghost Festival (August 10), such as by increasing market holidays, managing the supplies of chilled and frozen meats, and coordinating with Taiwan Sugar Corp. (Taisugar) to adjust the hog supply, Jiang instructed.
The premier made these remarks after being briefed at today's Cabinet meeting by the COA and Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on measures to stabilize food and commodity prices, respectively.
According to COA analysis, the supplies of agricultural and fishery products have been stable in recent months, and the wholesale prices of rice, vegetables, chicken, eggs and aquaculture products are also under control, the premier pointed out. Jiang asked the council to continue to monitor the supply and demand of these commodities and their price fluctuations while initiating related adjustment measures when necessary.
As the typhoon season has arrived, the premier directed the COA to keep tabs on the production conditions of agricultural and aquaculture products, to have cold storage warehouses ready and well-stocked, and to release products to the market before and after the onslaughts of typhoons to ensure demand is met and prices stabilized during these periods.
The COA stated that the porcine epidemic diarrhea outbreak in central and southern Taiwan significantly affected hog supply, and in order to ensure sufficient fresh pork for rituals during the Ghost Festival, it has adopted measures such as adding market holidays and increasing the distribution of chilled and frozen meats.
The COA instituted two additional market holidays for this month and reserved more market holidays for flexible adjustment. The agency has projected that every additional market holiday can save 21,000 hogs for sale at a later date.
The council has also coordinated with high-volume meat buyers such as meat processing plants, big meat traders and procurement units so they may buy NAIF-imported frozen pork during the period prior to the Ghost Festival in order to bolster fresh pork supplies and stabilize the prices on the meat market.
To further relieve pressure on the market and stabilize prices, the COA is coordinating with Taisugar to make 1,000 of its hogs available to the market.
Following the MOEA's report on bulk commodities, the premier directed the ministry to closely monitor supply and demand as well as price fluctuations of bulk commodities and daily necessities.
Recently, there have been concerns that the savings from customs tariff reductions since the Agreement between New Zealand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu on Economic Cooperation (ANZTEC) took effect December 1, 2013 have not been passed on to Taiwanese consumers, Jiang noted.
In response, he enjoined the MOEA, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Fair Trade Commission and Department of Consumer Protection to keep close watch of the fluctuations in the market prices for household necessities such as milk powder and to adopt response measures as necessary to allow the public to enjoy the benefits from the ANZTEC.
The reason milk powder prices have not fallen significantly is that the savings from the tariff cut have been more than offset by the rising cost of importing the product, the MOEA explained.
Instead, the price has remained broadly stable, as importers have not significantly hiked their prices. Last month, the MOEA's Bureau of Foreign Trade visited 10 domestic dairy product firms to make inquiries. It found that since the ANZTEC took effect, only one of the firms had raised its prices because of increased transaction costs, while the others had either kept their prices the same or repaid customers through promotional sales, thereby passing on their tariff savings to consumers.
Several importers have indicated that to harmonize with the government's goal of price stability, they will not raise their prices for the time being and will instead conduct promotional sales.