With the arrival of the post-epidemic era, on October 11 Japan completely opened its borders, and Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture (COA) of the Executive Yuan subsidized the Agricultural Technology Research Institute to arrange for six firms with agricultural materials or facilities with high potential to participate in the “Taiwan Pavilion” at “Agritech Tokyo 2022.” During the three-day event, which lasted from October 12 through 14, there were more than 500 visits to the Pavilion by buyers, with 54 firms expressing willingness to act as agents or distributors. It is estimated that follow-up commercial opportunities could be worth as much as NT$20 million.

“Agritech Tokyo 2022” was one of the four major exhibitions held during the “Agri Week Tokyo” agriculture and livestock event. Agritech Tokyo brings together exhibitors and buyers from countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas and is an important platform through which Taiwan can develop the international market for its technologies. This year 517 firms participated in the event, which attracted more than 30,000 visits. There were many buyers from Southeast Asian countries including Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines, providing an opportunity for promotion of the government’s New Southbound Policy and for marketing Taiwan’s agricultural materials, facilities, and technology to New Southbound Policy partner countries.

The COA states that this year marks the 7^th time since 2014 that it has arranged for a Taiwan Pavilion at Agritech Tokyo. Six relevant firms were selected to participate in the Pavilion, which incorporated the international trend toward net zero sustainability. Although Taiwan did not attend the event in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the COA quickly resumed participation with the arrival of the post-epidemic period and once again strove to extend the accomplishments of past participation. To make this year’s participation more effective, the COA worked with the Taiwan Agricultural Structures Association to make pre-exhibition preliminary visits to the Japanese materials seller CAINZ and the greenhouse plastic sheeting manufacturer Takiron (a subsidiary of the ITOCHU Corporation) to get up-to-date information on the current situation with respect to, and the requirements of, sales channels in the market. During the event there was a keynote address by Assistant Professor Yi Kung of National Chiayi University on the subject of “Taiwan’s agricultural facilities industry and development trends,” which was well-received by buyers. In addition, a successful invitation was made to Haruhisa Fukuda, president of the famous horticulture facilities heating equipment firm Nepon, to visit the Taiwan Pavilion and exchange ideas.

The COA adds that agribusinesses that participated in this most recent Agritech Tokyo event included firms from the fields of agricultural machinery, horticultural facilities, and agricultural and animal husbandry materials. Of them, the Union Formosa Biochemistry Company displayed an additive for ornamental fish feed that uses a microbial fermentation extract as its core ingredient to increase the immunity of fish to disease; the product attracted the attention of buyers and the company received orders right then and there at the event.

Given the global trend toward trade liberalization, Taiwan’s government is endeavoring to promote and sign free trade agreements with other countries. In the face of competition in trade of agricultural products, it is extremely important to build on a foundation of advanced technology to develop international markets. Therefore, the COA has continued to keep track of domestic agribusinesses with high potential, and through the organization of “national teams,” to collectively work to promote their products to the world. Moreover, through tracking of effectiveness and passing along of experience the COA and these firms will increase their capabilities and continually expand the impact of national teams for agricultural technology, thereby ensuring the competitiveness of Taiwan’s agricultural sector.