GARDEN Trader (SPRING 2022)

Peter Chu From the Publisher According to the Ministry of Finance statistics, Taiwan's flower exports exceeded 210 million USD in 2021. Despite the impact of the pandemic in 2020, Taiwan's flower exports bounced back in 2021. Among Taiwanese flower products, the moth orchid showed record-breaking export figures exceeding 150 million USD and a sales volume of 14,020 metric tons, an increase of 8.5% and 14.7%, respectively. The extensive studies on orchids from Taiwanese business- es, the recovery of the export market, the surge in demand for household flowers, and the support of government policies all enabled the growth of moth orchid exports against all odds. The stabilization of demand in Europe and the United States undoubtedly drove the growth of Taiwan's orchid exports in 2021. Not only is Taiwan known as the Kingdom of Orchid, but also one of the World's top five exporters of hand tools (including gardening hand tools). In 2019 and 2020, Taiwan's export value continued to decline. However, with the recovery of the global economy and the surge in metal prices, the export value in 2021 increased by 27.4%, reaching 4.79 billion USD. The United States is Taiwan's largest export market for hand tools, with steady growth in export values in recent years. Taiwan's hand tools exports to the United States have grown by 26.9%. Taiwan's second-largest export market is the EU. Due to the rebounding demands in major EU countries resulting from loosened restrictions, Taiwan's exports to the EU in 2021 increased by 33.3%, a growth rate more significant than that of the exports to the United States. Recently, Taiwan introduced smart agricultural technologies such as automation, AI, and big data into the orchid industry to pursue advancements. On the other hand, even though the booming orders due to the pandemic highlighted the potential concerns of Taiwan's decreasing OEMs, it still boosted the automation and digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. While being proud of the export performances of orchids and hand tools in 2021, Taiwan's next focus should be on how to keep this momentum going in 2022. 2022 The premier Gardening buyer's guide SPRING 10