With the Moon Festival around the corner, major seasonal foods such as pomelos, fish, livestock and poultry are in ample supply, but the prices of fruits that require a long growing season have been high this year because of recent typhoon and flood damage, Premier Sean Chen stated today, citing a briefing from Minister Chen Bao-ji of the Council of Agriculture (COA). The premier directed the COA to improve the distribution of agricultural products and look after the rights and interests of farmers and consumers.
Premier Chen made these remarks at the Cabinet meeting this morning. He pointed out that two typhoons, Saola and Tembin, hit Taiwan in August, wrecking havoc on fruits and vegetables, triggering pronounced price escalations and pushing the consumer price index (CPI) for the month to a four-year high of 3.42 percentage points. The premier noted that as there was no crop damage from typhoons in August 2011, 1.89 percentage points of the latest CPI rise were in fact attributed to the typhoons' impact on fruits and vegetables alone.
Following a COA-assisted farm rehabilitation scheme, vegetable production has returned to normal, and prices have become stable. However, the price of scallion is still high, and the flavor of imported scallions does not suit the preferences of the Taiwanese public. Hence, the premier directed the COA to conduct preemptive surveys of other countries' fruits and vegetables to determine which could satisfy Taiwanese demand in the event of a domestic shortage following a natural disaster.
The premier also noted that as autumn has arrived, vegetables and fruits are growing quickly, and the COA should closely monitor prices and implement marketing and production adjustment measures so producers and consumers may avoid roller coaster-like price fluctuations.