Taiwan is the fifth largest export market for U.S. organic products, reaching over $90 million in sales in 2019. Thanks to the May 2020 equivalence arrangement between U.S. and Taiwan, U.S. organic sales in Taiwan are forecast to grow by almost 50 percent between 2020 to 2025.
Taiwan’s policy of requiring organic equivalency agreements may change the origins of its imported organic products, as most European Union countries are not pursuing agreements. As of May 31, 2020 only five of 22 countries engaged in organic trade with Taiwan have signed equivalency agreements: Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States. Meanwhile, of the organic products imported into Taiwan in 2019, 52.9 percent came from the EU, 18.8 percent from the United States, 10.3 percent from Canada, 8.9 percent from Australia, and 7.2 percent from New Zealand. Over 86 percent of Taiwanese consumers prefer organic fruits and vegetables.
According to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service report on the Indian Organic Foods Market, “there has been a significant drop in U.S. agricultural exports to India since 2018 due to the retaliatory import tariffs imposed by India, which has also hampered trade prospects in the organic sector.” Organic food and beverage retail sales in India reached $69 million in 2019 and are estimated to increase 12 percent to $77 million in 2020. Best prospects for US organic products there include apples, vinegar, pears, and coffee.
In 2019, the European Union imported 3.24 million tons of organic products, about the same as 2018. China is the leading importing country, at 433,000 tons, with organic soy meal for animal feed as the leading product at 77 percent of all Chinese imports. Ukraine supplies one tenth of EU’s organic imports at 338,000 tonnes, especially of wheat and other cereals. Due to banana imports and other tropical products, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Peru are the third, fourth and fifth leading importers.
According to the “Saudi Arabia Natural & Organic Food Market (2019-2025): Market Forecast by Types, by Distribution Channels, by Origin, by Regions, and Competitive Landscape" report, the market for organic and natural foods in Saudi Arabia is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15.9% from 2019-2025. More than 80% of the organic food in the country is imported, and the Saudi Arabia government has developed a $200 million action plan to support organic farming.
