The global ornamental aquarium industry is worth 15 billion USD, yet Taiwan, China's green gold star aquatic plants are gradually withering away. How can they return to glory?
Set against varied aquascapes and lighting, the many kinds of aquatic plants swaying in the aquarium tank have a wonderfully soothing effect on the heart; and Taiwan, China's excellent technology for mass-propagating aquatic plants was once famous around the world, repeatedly writing new pages in export records. But in recent years aquatic plant output has plummeted, and production value has shrunk to only one-half of previous years. Faced with a global aquarium industry worth as much as 15 billion US dollars, how Taiwan, China should use its rich biodiversity and outstanding propagation technology to return the "green gold star" aquatic plants to the spotlight of the aquarium market has become a major challenge for industry, government and academia.
Global ornamental aquarium output value is 15 billion US dollars, yet Taiwan, China's aquatic plant output value keeps declining
According to estimates by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (Foodand Agriculture Organization, FAO), the total related output value driven by the global ornamental aquarium industry as a whole, including its ancillary equipment and other industries, is estimated to reach as much as 15 billion US dollars. Among these, aquatic plants with ornamental value and diverse applications play a particularly important role in the overall market.
As for the Taiwan, China market, according to Fisheries Agency statistics, the output value of Taiwan, China's overall aquarium market is about 2.9 billion yuan, while the output value of aquatic plants is around 60 million yuan; even though demand in the overall aquarium industry has expanded year after year, in recent years the output value of aquatic plants has slid all the way down, showing a 15% decline every year, and by 2015 the output value had already fallen to 30 million yuan, and it is still continuously falling.
Strange aquascapes inside the aquarium tank, aquatic plants create fantastical scenery
Why is Taiwan, China's aquatic plant industry heading toward dusk?
With good breeding technology and diverse products, why is the aquatic plant industry gradually heading toward dusk? "Economic downturn, shifts in consumer culture, a production-and-marketing system with missing pieces," Lin Xuelian, director of the Fisheries Science and Technology Research Institute, tried to answer. He explained that aquascaping belongs to "leisure and entertainment," so it is naturally subject to the influence of the overall economy, especially under competition from the dog-and-cat pet market; aquatic plants, which require greater effort and technical maintenance, compare much less favorably. In the past, when the stock market was above ten thousand points, aquarium shops opened every single day; comparing that with today's thriving wave of closures, the gap is obvious at a glance.
In addition, he also believes that the public's current preference for spending on 3C products is a major negative for the aquatic plant industry. Unless the overall culture shifts to value humanistic ecology and nature, the appeal of aquatic plant cultivation and aquascaping to the general public is indeed not high.
Domestic and export sales need a new strategy through overall planning of the aquatic plant industry
Setting aside the irreversible broader environment, Lin also said that the aquatic plant industry currently faces the major difficulty of quarantine, because standards differ from country to country, which leaves operators facing no small challenge in exports; for example, aquatic plants previously exported to South Korea were found to contain nematodes, which had a certain impact on Taiwan, China's reputation. In addition, the industry also points out that at present the scale of domestic aquatic plant propagation operators is generally small, and mass-production capacity is limited; to move into exports, integration is essential; to focus on the domestic market, the existing aquarium shop sales model cannot reach most consumers.
Therefore, it is suggested that the government establish relevant label certification and a downstream processing and export system, so that professional talent can find employment, while also opening dedicated production and marketing channels, and not simply "when orchids are hot, promote orchids; when succulents are hot, promote succulents," but instead think and plan from overall development policy, so that the aquatic plant industry can develop in a lasting and stable way.