Members of the Taiwan Garlic Farmers' Association and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Su Chih-fen have filed charges of malpractice against Kaohsiung Customs on Tuesday 10 May, accusing the customs unit of allowing the import of 80 tons of China-grown black garlic mixed with Thai garlic.
At a press conference Wednesday, Kaohsiung Customs official Kao Ching-hsiang confirmed that two of the three crates in question, which had been waiting to be collected for a week, had been picked up by their owners Tuesday night. The remaining crate was picked up early Wednesday morning.
Kao said that the crates were collected despite customs officials receiving calls from the Agriculture and Food Agency telling them not to release the garlic until negotiations among involved parties had concluded.
Customs workers' hands are tied in such cases, he said, as they can only appeal to traders through moral suasion not to import foreign goods that are not officially barred. Blocking them could result in legal charges, he said.
The association's director-general, Hu Yung-fang, said that Taiwanese black garlic was larger than the Thai variety, and that the problematic batch contained bulbs of various sizes, raising concern among local farmers that the crates may have included Chinese garlic.
Hu urged the government to protect farmers' rights by conducting thorough inspections of the products before granting them clearance.
Taiwan currently bans the import of sensitive agricultural imports from China, including garlic. Hu said that allowing Chinese garlic into Taiwan would further impact local garlic farmers' livelihoods, which he warned were already in jeopardy after recent unstable weather reduced production and drove up prices.
Agency's Documents Unclear
In documents provided by the Agriculture and Food Agency, the Finance Ministry's Customs Administration Director General Chuang Shui-chi cited the agency's report outlining that the garlic samples retrieved by the inspections team "did not match up with samples of Chinese garlic in their database," and therefore the agency gave customs the clearance to proceed..
Farmers pointed out that as local garlic prices vary between NT$110 to NT$130 catty, equal to 0.6 kg. However, once Chinese garlic imported from Thailand enters local markets, prices could fall sharply to below NT$100 per kilogram.
