To expand Taiwan's presence in the international agriproducts market, Deputy Minister Huang Chao-chin of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) led a delegation of ten companies to showcase premium Taiwan agriproducts at Foodex Japan 2025, held from March 11 to 14. Featuring the theme 'Fresh Always,' the Taiwan Pavilion highlighted high-quality Taiwanese agriproducts to buyers from Japan and beyond. On the first day, with Deputy Minister Huang in attendance, the Taiwan enterprise K.K. Orchard signed a cooperative Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Japan’s TK Trading to purchase Taiwan agriproducts. The Japanese side also announced that, following the opening of the professional baseball season in Japan, chewy and delicious sweet-potato balls made from Taiwan's premium sweet potatoes will first be introduced at seven baseball stadiums nationwide. Following this launch, they will be made available at chain convenience stores, supermarkets, and highway rest stations, with the goal of driving a new consumer trend in Japan.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Minister Huang emphasized the importance of showcasing innovative and premium agriproducts from Taiwan, rich in local character, to sales channels and consumers in Japan and globally. In recent years the MOA has actively worked through cross-domain cooperation to promote new products, new sales channels, and new business models. It has utilized channels including professional baseball games, tourist trains, large overseas sales channels, and brand-name groups to promote activities for pork rib boxed meals, pork chop boxed meals, grouper boxed meals, and Michelin-starred railway food, to enable overseas consumers to taste fresh and delicious Taiwan agriproducts. In his remarks, Ambassador Lee I-yang of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan emphasized that trade and exchanges of agriproducts between Taiwan and Japan are very active, that the apples produced in the two countries have complementary growing seasons, and that Japan also buys a great deal of Taiwan pineapple, and he expressed his wish that the Taiwan-Japan friendship will long endure.

Deputy Minister Huang stressed that the trade and cooperation partnership between Taiwan and Japan is built on longstanding trust. This year ten firms from the agriculture, livestock, and fisheries industries participated in the Taiwan Pavilion at Foodex Japan, displaying a diverse array of representative Taiwan products including rice, fresh and frozen fruit, tea, grouper, Yamato clam products, processed pork products, processed sweet potato products, and vanilla etc. Also, numerous promotional activities were held during the period of the exhibition, built around the theme of authentic Taiwan cuisine and featuring products including Taiwanese-style stir-fried food, boxed meals, and sweets. Taiwan’s efforts moreover incorporated activities and interactions related to the “simple food movement” that is now popular in Japan. The aim of the pavilion was to enable international buyers to experience the feeling of well-being that comes with Taiwan premium agriproducts and dietary culture.

During the opening ceremony for the pavilion, Deputy Minster Huang witnessed the signing ceremony of a cooperative MOU between Taiwan’s K.K. Orchard and Japan’s TK Trading to purchase Taiwan agriproducts. TK Trading President Sasaki said in his remarks that his connection with Taiwan goes back more than 40 years, before he even joined TK Trading, when he dealt in Taiwan processed pork products. The company was in serious trouble when a 1997 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among pigs in Taiwan caused Japan to ban imports of Taiwan pork, but the firm was able to survive, thanks to support from many Taiwanese enterprises.

President Sasaki noted that sweet potatoes are seen as a seasonal food in Japan and are consumed mainly in autumn and winter. But after he encountered products made by K.K. Orchard three or four years ago, he discovered that sweet potatoes are sold at Taiwan convenience stores year-round and that chewy sweet-potato balls can be found in night markets and many other places. He realized that sweet potato culinary culture in Taiwan is more highly developed than in Japan, so he actively worked to import Taiwanese chewy sweet-potato balls into Japan.

President Sasaki also announced at the event that after this season of Japanese professional baseball opens, sweet-potato balls will go on sale in seven baseball stadiums nationwide, and that his company is currently in negotiations with Japanese convenience market chains to sell them. In the future, they will be sold through other sales channels including large supermarkets and there is a potential market for sales at many event venues and highway rest stops. TK Trading will continue to work with Taiwanese companies to develop even more market channels.

The MOA highlights its ongoing efforts to establish a stable export supply chain. This ensures Taiwan agriproducts are both reliably available and recognized internationally for their premium quality and safety. At this year's Foodex Japan, Taiwan continued to strengthen Japanese buyers' trust in its agriproducts. The MOA remains dedicated to delivering the highest quality and safest agriproducts, sharing the taste of health and happiness with consumers around the world.