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Since the beginning of 2022, Taiwan’s table egg prices continue to set new price records. The egg wholesale market closed at an all-time high price of 80NTD ($2.81USD) per kilogram on March 15. The primary contributors to the recent spike in table egg prices are lower placement of laying hens resulted from high feed prices, culling of birds contaminated by avian influenza, and lower seasonal production cycle.

The combination of COVID disruptions and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreaks led to a 1.8 percent decline in EU (European Union) chicken meat production in Calendar Year (CY) 2021. Despite ongoing HPAI outbreaks, easing COVID restrictions will likely result in a 0.2 percent increase in EU chicken meat production in CY 2022.

This report is a voluntary update to GAIN Report TW2020-0014, published February 25, 2020. The report provides a brief introduction to Taiwan’s pesticide residue policy to include maximum residue limit (MRL) import tolerance applications, up-to-date MRL database, frequently used residue testing methods and recent MRL announcement history.

Taiwan's economy is booming with the GDP forecasted to increase 4.42 percent in 2022. In 2021, Taiwan imported $3.93 billion worth of agricultural and food products from the US, making it the 6th largest market for U.S. agricultural products.

On May 2020, the European Commission announced a revision of the legislative framework for Geographical Indications (GIs) as part of the European Union (EU) Green Deal’s Farm to Fork Strategy.

Hong Kong continues to take random tests on imports of chilled and frozen foods and their packaging for the COVID-19 virus.

As the world’s third largest vegetarian market with an increasing flexitarian population, Taiwan bodes well for the ingredients that address low fat, high fiber, and plant-based protein.

The European Commission is banning titanium dioxide (E171) as a food additive in the EU, starting with a six-month phasing out period as of February 7, 2022, until August 7, 2022, after which a full ban applies. Following the publication of Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/63 in the EU’s Official Journal (OJ) on January 18, 2022, Annex II and III to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 on food additives will be amended accordingly.

Both EU beef and pork production are forecast to decline in 2022. The lower domestic beef production is caused by a shrinking dairy herd with higher milk deliveries but a lower output of animals for slaughter.