Taiwan acts to protect dairy industry from NZ imports

TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA, 農業部) announced on Tuesday (Dec. 24) a series of measures to protect domestic milk, including plans to collaborate with chain stores. Taiwan's dairy industry is preparing to face a significant challenge in 2025 when duty-free milk from New Zealand enters the market.

In response to this challenge, the MOA and the Ministry of Education (MOE, 教育部) launched a program in September to provide free domestic milk to schoolchildren. However, the Executive Yuan (行政院) later canceled the program in December due to differing opinions from local governments, schools, and industry leaders.

On Monday, the Department of Animal Industry (畜牧司) convened a conference in Liouying, Tainan (柳營), one of Taiwan's major dairy farming regions. Over 60 farmers participated in discussing potential countermeasures. The department pledged to support small farms by fostering partnerships with chain stores to increase the usage of domestic milk. Also, authorities promised to assist the industry in improving cold chain logistics and upgrading pollution prevention facilities.

Farmers in Liouying proposed that the government enhance consumer awareness of the domestic milk certification and urge the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW, 衛福部) to label imported milk with "Extended Shelf-Life." These measures aim to boost the competitiveness of domestic milk products.

The department stated that it has developed a dairy industry upgrade plan for 2024 to 2027, which the Executive Yuan has approved, allocating additional resources to support industry transformation. Moving forward, the department will organize industry conferences in other key dairy farming regions, including Wandan Township (萬丹鄉), Fuxing Township (福興鄉), and Ruisui Township (瑞絲鄉), to gather input from farmers and discuss strategies for the future.