TSU urges government to tackle low-end tea imports

TSU Secretary-General Chien Cheng-shan and Legislator Lai Hsing-yuan issued the call at a Legislative Yuan news conference.

Chien and Lai asked the government to apply additional emergency measures,such as “imposing temporary duty increase on the importation” to deal with the situation, as rampant cheap tea imports from the two countries have dealt a heavy blow to local farmers. The Council of Agriculture (COA) has applied to the Ministry of Economic Affairs for importation relief for local tea growers, they noted.

While the COA has promised to grant monetary handouts worth NT$400 million (US$12.27 million) to local tea farmers, Chien asked when the money will be delivered to them.

According to Lai, it will be Taiwan’s first case concerning “temporary importation relief tariff, “ and will take only three months for relevant government agencies to implement the measure — a time much shorter than an eight-month period required for a regular importation relief case.

A “temporary importation relief tariff” can be immediately implemented as long as preliminary documents are available to prove that large amounts of foreign imports have hobbled local industry or business, Lai said.

In response to Chien’s query, COA Secretary-General Hsu Han-ching made it clear that local tea farmers will receive the financial aid by the end of this year.

According to Lu Su-wen, a COA’s section chief, the Ministry of Finance has been considering whether to impose anti-dumping tax on foreign tea imports, but will probably target only goods from Vietnam.

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