Deputy Minister Huang Chao-chin of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) led a delegation to Fukuoka, Japan, to actively expand Taiwan’s grouper exports to overseas market. Moreover, they attended a joint press conference with the Nishi-Nippon Railroad Company (Nishitetsu) on Taiwan Dragon-Tiger grouper on March 8. Esteemed guests including Nishitetsu President Koichi Hayashida; Pingtung County Magistrate Chou Chun-mi; Bruce Chen (Chen Ming-jun), head of the Fukuoka Branch of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka; staff from NIYU Life, a representative of Taiwan’s aquatic products trading companies; and Taiwan Premium Agricultural Products Development Institute President Chris Chang witnessed this important moment of the official beginning of the sale of Taiwan Dragon-Tiger grouper by Nishitetsu.

Deputy Minister Huang explained that Dragon-Tiger grouper, a premium fish commonly served to esteemed guests in Taiwan, symbolizes the host's hospitality. Its meat is finely textured and has excellent mouthfeel, making it popular in domestic and foreign markets. In order to make it available to Japanese consumers, the MOA has worked alongside the industry and academia for many years, finally receiving approval from the Japanese government to import aquaculture-raised Dragon-Tiger grouper on October 30, 2024. Now Japanese consumers can get to know and appreciate the taste of this fish through tourist trains, hotels and restaurants, and supermarkets. This is a successful example of the joint promotion of cross-domain sales of agriculture and fisheries products through cooperation between Taiwan and Japan. Deputy Minister Huang emphasized that the MOA will continue to guide businesses to meet standards for export of their products to Japan by upgrading aquaculture and processing technology and techniques and ensuring a stable supply of products and their quality. They aim in this case to make Taiwan Dragon-Tiger grouper into a safe and popular option in the Japanese market.

After the press conference, the delegation boarded the Nishitetsu tourist train “The Rail Kitchen Chikugo” to get an on-site look at the achievements in promoting Taiwan Dragon-Tiger grouper meals and to try cuisine made with this fish designed by a chef with a Michelin star. Deputy Minister Huang stated that this cooperation model not only enables Japanese consumers to enjoy a unique culinary experience, the tourist train also creates the opportunity to introduce Taiwan Dragon-Tiger grouper to busy travelling Japanese office workers or leisurely train passengers. On the trains they can conveniently encounter this fish, which besides providing a nutritional boost, also is part of a beautiful culinary memory for travelers.

Afterwards, the delegation went to a Nishitestu store in Yanagawa City to check out the display and sales situation of boxed meals and cut fish made with Taiwan Dragon-Tiger grouper while discussing market reactions and consumer benefits with the stores, in order to better judge the market acceptance of this fish. Deputy Minister Huang indicated that this valuable information will be helpful to adjusting future sales strategies, and that he looked forward to further expanding the visibility and sales of the fish in the Japanese market through a strategy of cross-domain and diversified awareness-raising approaches.

Deputy Minister Huang said that grouper is one of Taiwan’s leading high-value aquaculture industries with annual production volume of 19,000 metric tons and production value of over NT$4.4 billion. In recent years the MOA has worked to build up a cold-chain logistics system to ensure the quality of seafood with an eye to high-end markets including those in Japan, the US, and Singapore. Through export incentives of NT$10 to $40 per kilogram for transportation costs, the MOA is encouraging grouper businesses to develop overseas sales channels. Moreover, whereas Taiwanese have always been accustomed to purchasing whole, live grouper, the MOA, in response to demand from the domestic and international markets, is guiding businesses to develop a variety of cutting grouper products in small packaging. In addition, this year the MOA is offering a processing incentive for grouper aimed at the Japanese market, encouraging businesses to process the fish to create value-added and establish a foothold with large overseas sales channels.

The MOA explains that in the future it will continue to guide Dragon-Tiger grouper aquaculture businesses to meet the qualifications to become registered as fish farms (companies) that can export to Japan. At the same time the MOA will guide firms to enhance competitiveness in their processing and aquaculture operations and develop products suited to demand in the Japanese market. Moreover, the Fisheries Research Institute will implement aquaculture water-supply testing to undertake management at the source to ensure that companies can supply grouper from Taiwan that is of the highest quality and safety to enable the grouper industry to develop sustainably.