Eleven countries and regions have barred food items from Taiwan due to the recent food safety scandals. That’s the word from the economics ministry on Monday.
The 11 regions are China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, Chile, the Netherlands, Vietnam, and New Zealand.
But the economics ministry said that food items only make up a small percentage of Taiwan’s total exports. So this will only lead to NT$2.2 billion (US$7.3 billion) of losses. But the local food industry is expected to lose more than NT$12 billion (US$ 4 billion) due to the food safety scandals. The ministry said that, when the time is right, it will plan promotions to encourage consumers to buy food products again.