Abstract
The mushroom industry was one of the leading export-oriented agricultural processing industries supporting the early economic development in Taiwan. The objectives of this study were: to describe the place of the mushroom industry in Taiwan's agricultural economy: to describe and examine world mushroom production and trade flows; to formulate and estimate an econometric model that quantifies the economic factors affecting Taiwan's mushroom sector; and to draw implications for policies and strategies regarding the production and marketing of Taiwan mushrooms. It was found that the world market share for Taiwan canned mushrooms has declined from more than 70 percent in 1965 to 18.6 percent in 1984. The sales to the United States have increased from 30.5 percent of total Taiwan mushroom exports to 75 percent. The world canned mushroom industry has been influenced by a combination of exporting and importing country policies. The econometric analysis indicated that Taiwan's canned mushroom production was heavily influenced by technological change. The results on Taiwan's domestic demand for fresh mushrooms suggested the need for considerably increased research to identify the market potential. Income elasticities were significant and relatively high for the United States (5.0) and Canada (1.8). Dummy variables indicated that changes in trade policy were having a substantial, generally adverse, impact on Taiwan exports of canned mushrooms. It was concluded chat to improve and maintain the competitive position of Taiwan mushrooms in world markets, production strategies should strengthen research and development in agronomic improvements to raise the yields and quality of raw mushrooms, apply more laborsaving production practices to reduce labor costs, and to strengthen extension education to farmers with information on technology and markets in specialized mushroom production areas having highly productive growers. This study also suggests that the domestic market for mushrooms may have more potential than had previously been thought. Market, research combined with subsequent market development and promotion activities would appear to be a prime order of concern...
Lee, Kuen-Mu (1986). The Taiwan mushroom industry in a world economy. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -19338.