The Council of Agriculture of Executive Yuan states that Paphiopedilum is an emerging species of orchids in Taiwan. With the efforts made by the breeders and exporters in recent years, Paphiopedilum has been developed into an important exported flower and has become another new promising agricultural product following the Phalaenopsis.

In order to reinforce the protection of the endangered wild Paphiopedilum species as well as to conserve and make use of biological resources, COA acts in accordance with the regulations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), stipulating the ban of international trading of any Paphiopedilum species collected in the wild. However, it approves trading of the artificially cultivated seedlings under certain conditions. Accordingly, COA laid down and propagated “Things to know about how to apply for certification papers of artificially cultivated Paphiopedilum”, established a system for registering and managing farms where Paphiopedila are artificially cultivated, opening up a channel through which domestic commercially-produced Paphiopedilum seedlings can be exported.

COA notes that in 2006 the number of registered farms of artificially cultivated Paphiopedila amounted to 23 and that these farms filed for 235 cases of the exportation of Paphiopedilum seedlings, among which 141,381 seedlings were reviewed and approved to be exported with value of around NT$33,720,000. According to statistics, the filed applications for exportation grew by 7.3 percent in 2006 as compared with 2005, the exported amount of seedlings grew by 27.2 percent and the exported value increased by 8.9 percent. They were primarily exported to 24 countries or areas including U.S.A. Vietnam, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand. And the exported species were mainly those of Mottled-Leaf-Single-Flowered Paphiopedilum of the Maudiae Type, Multiflora hybrids and Single-Flowered Standard Type with each of them taking up 54.4 percent, 17.6 percent and 13.4 percent respectively.

COA stresses that Taiwan is not home to Paphiopedila and that it was introduced initially from abroad and a variety of hybrids and combinations were continuously innovated through more than two decades of development. Coupled with the advantages of management skills in breeding and cultivating, keeping well track of the growing and blossoming characteristics of Paphiopedilum and mastering of the technology of its blossoming season adjustment, Taiwan have expanded its domestic market and succeeded in increasing its exportation. With its production scale and exportation volume increasing with years, Paphiopedilum is expected to be the rising star among Taiwan’s exported flowers before long.