The first shipment of more than 1,500 boxes was exported to Japan yesterday (11th June). The president Tsai Ing-wen affirmed that private companies combined academic resources to promote agricultural value-added. Innovation, she also promised that Taichung Lychee can be sold in Japan.
Eric Chuo, chairman of Hiwin Technology, stated that the technology of “preserving the colour and preventing loss of water” has been obtained by the Hiwin Technology’s Education Foundation using 3 million yuan to obtain half of the intellectual property rights of National Chung Hsing University. The other half is held by Hiwin Technology. In addition to farmers in Taichung City, in future this technology will be provided to other province within the Government free of charge.
The mayor of Taichung city Lin Chia-lung announced that the government will simultaneously launch the "Taichung City Outreach Program for Foreign Markets in Lychee". From now on until the end of August, the national traders, farmers' associations and cooperatives will be subsidised 10 yuan per kilogram if they buy from Taichung farmers to export of lychee, according to The Bureau of Agriculture Exports, The export is expected to be worth 400 tons.
In order to assist Taichung's Lychee to export globally, the Taichung City Government, Hiwin Technology, and National Chung Hsing University jointly collaborated on the use of "colour retention and water loss prevention" technology to solve the problem of fading appearance of lychee for export so that Japanese consumers can enjoy authentic Taichung high-quality lychees.
The Municipal Government held a ceremony yesterday at the Taichung Branch with Qingguo Fruit Marketing Cooperative in Feng yuan District. Tsai Ing-wen and Lin Tsung-hsien of the Council of Agriculture, Huang Zhen-wen, Vice President of National Chung Hsing University, and Chen Yi-zong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fruit Marketing Cooperative, witnessed the confirmation of Taichung’s integration of civil society and academy. Resources, committed to agricultural innovation, showing Taiwan's agricultural power.
Eric Chuo said that Japan is one of the major markets for Lychee in Taiwan. He often travels to Japan for business trips. In the summertime, the fruits of Japanese large-scale restaurant cafeterias often have lychees, but those frozen lychee peels appear to be black and the lychee’s water is lost. There is a big gap between Taiwanese taste and local taste.
Eric Chuo said that he often thinks that if he can use the current agricultural science and technology to break through the ‘frozen’ bottleneck of Taiwan’s lychee and maintain the original colour and moisture of the fruit, he will certainly be able to obtain better prices for Taiwanese farmers in Japan.