Over the past 27 years, the cultivation area of flowers and ornamental plants in Taiwan has shown a growing trend, increasing from 9,968 hectares in the year 1996 to 14,033 hectares in the year 2022, marking a 41% growth. In the central region encompassing Changhua, Taichung, and Nantou, the cultivation area has also demonstrated robust growth, rising from 6,209 hectares in 1996 to 8,443 hectares in 2022, representing a 36% increase. The overall production value has similarly increased to NT$8.5 billion in 2022, indicating that flowers and ornamental plants have gradually become important agricultural products in response to the demand for spiritual and aesthetic lifestyles.
Due to its geographical and historical development, the central region has always been a production base for Taiwan's flowers and ornamental plants. According to the 2022 Agricultural Statistics Yearbook, it accounts for 58.2% of the national production area. Among the seven major categories of floral crops, including cut flowers, gardenia flowers, orchids, bulbous plants, seedlings, nursery plants, and potted plants, the central region dominates in nursery plants (9,307 hectares), cut flowers (2,827 hectares), potted plants (1,106 hectares), and orchids (727 hectares), making up 63.3%, 62.1%, 54.5%, and 25.9% of the national total, respectively, highlighting the significance of the floral industry in the central region.
Several items in the cut flower category also boast the highest cultivation areas nationwide. For instance, Dahlia (3 hectares, 100%), Chrysanthemum (593 hectares, 96%), Lily (392 hectares, 94%), African Daisy (61 hectares, 91.8%), Dianthus (39 hectares, 79.4%), Roses (160 hectares, 76.3%), Calla Lily (90 hectares, 74.4%), Oncidium (248 hectares, 53.6%), and Lisianthus (88 hectares, 48.9%) are representative cut flowers of the central region. Among them, Oncidium, Lisianthus, and Anthurium are major cut flowers exported to Japan, while the others are mainly distributed to auctions in Taipei, Taichung, Changhua, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, with a small quantity sold through order placements. Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, new channels such as e-commerce and supermarkets have been developed.
Additionally, Malabar Chestnut is a significant export-oriented ornamental plant categorized under the nursery plants, covering an area of about 100 hectares. It is a crucial export landscape plant in the central region, with Changhua County contributing to 71.0% of the national production, almost entirely for export.
Looking at the changes in the rankings of the top 5 cultivated flower and ornamental plant species in the region from 1996 to 2022, it is evident that nursery plants and chrysanthemums continue to dominate the cultivation area. The cultivation area of Calla Lily rapidly decreased 15 years ago, replaced by orchids and subsequently lilies, while potted plants consistently secured the third position and experienced steady growth in cultivation area year by year.
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Crop name
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Industry’s Briefing
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Oncidium
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Oncidium cultivation area in the central region of Taiwan is 133 hectares, and is mainly in Taichung City Xinshe, Houli, Dongshi, Beitun, Shigang, and Waipu district for 82.5 hectares. Other production areas are Puli Township and Mingjian Township of Nantou Country and other towns. The production yield is 25 million cut flowers, and main variety is ‘Honey Angel’. The export value of Oncidium to Japan is US$ 1152million and exports quantity is 1465 tonnes.
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Lily
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Lilium : cultivation area in the central region of Taiwan is 299 hectares, and is mainly in Taichung City Houli, Xinshe, Shengang, and Waipu district for 222 hectares. Other production areas are Puli Township and Renai Township of Nantou Country (61hectares) and Changhua county (16 hectares). The production yield is 59 million cut flowers, and main variety is Oriental Lily including yellow flower cultivar ‘Concador ’ and ‘Manisa’, red flower cultivars ‘Robina’ ‘Acablanca’ and ‘Viviana’ as well as white flower cultivar ‘Crystal’.
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Dianthus
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Dianthus cultivation area in the central region of Taiwan is 42 hectares, and is mainly in Tianwei township, Yongjing township, Beidou township and Xihu township of Changhua county for 41 hectares.
Annual production is 24.7million, and common cultivated varieties are ‘Connelly’ (red color), ‘Celine’ (pink color) and ‘Gaudina’ (peach color). The production period is in May.
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Anthurium
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Anthurium mainly cultivated in Nantou County and Taichung City. The cultivation area of Nantou county is 34 hectares and 26 hectares in Taichung city accounting for 31% of the total production area of Taiwan. The annual production is 16.38 million cut flowers. The production areas are in Puli township and Houli district with cooler climate and suitable for high quality cut flower production. Cut flowers are exported to Japan and Middle East, and main cultivars are Faradiso, Tropical, Trinidad, and so on. The potted plant products are sold for domestic market, and main cultivars are ‘Pink Champion’, ‘Valentino’, and so on.
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Rose
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Rose production area in central region of Taiwan is mainly cultivated in the Nantou county 114 hectares, accounting for 56% of total production area of Taiwan. The main varieties are ‘Diana’, ‘Gala Red’,‘Purple Espirit’ and so on.
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Gladius
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Gladius production area in central region of Taiwan is 119 hectares, and is mainly cultivated in the Taichung city Houli district (97 hectares) and Xizhou township, Tianwei township, and Beidou township of Changhua county (22 hectares). An annual cut flowers production is about 21 million. The main varieties are ‘Advance Red’, ‘Ben Venuto’, ‘Red Beauty’, ‘Amsterdam’, ‘Priscilla’, and ‘Manhattan’. The production period is from September to April, and export to Japan.
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Eustoma
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Eustoma production area in central region of Taiwan is 57 hectares, and is mainly cultivated in the Yongjing township, Beidou township, Xizhou township, and Tianwei township of Changhua county (56 hectares). An annual production is 13 million cut flowers. The main varieties are ‘Arena’, ‘Rosina’, ‘Echo’, and ‘Patio’. The production period is from September to April, and export value to Japan is more than NT$250 million.
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Malabar chestnut
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Malabar chestnut production area in central region of Taiwan is 420 hectares, and the production value is about NT 200 million dollars. It is mainly cultivated in the Xizhou township of Changhua county. It is mainly exported to China. The export value is NT$180 million.
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Chrysanthemum
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Chrysanthemum production area in Taiwan is 703 hectares, and is mainly cultivated in Changhua county for 96% of total production area, including Tianwei village 340 hectare, Yongjing village 228 hectare, Beidou township 38 hectare, and mainly provided for domestic market. The main varieties are ‘Huang Show Fong’, ‘Bai Dong Yung’, ‘Dragon Phoenix Purple’, ‘Tiger Red’ and ‘Autumn Sunny’.
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Gebera
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Gebera production area in Taiwan is 77 hectares, and is mainly cultivated in Changhua county with 47 hectares accounting for 61% of total production area. Nantou County has 23 hectares for gebera production and is 29% of total area. The main varieties are ‘Esmarla’, ‘Pink Charm’, ‘Apolo’, and ‘Roreito’.
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Dendrobium
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Dendrobium: The annual production is about 100 thousands pots, and annual value is about NT$20 million. The middle district of Taiwan accounts for 50% production value. Currently, there is no main varieties for dendrobium, and we focus on breeding of new varieties and developing key techniques for industry.
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Cymbidium
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The main cultivation areas of cymbidium in middle of Taiwan are 30 hectares located in Yuchi township of Nantou county, Xinshe and Dongshi district of Taichung city. For the domestic market, the Chinese New Year festivals are the main period for sales of potted plants and cut flowers. The flowering season for cut flower of cymbidium is from November to February, and for potted plant is one month before Chinese New Year festival, and the popular colors of flower are red, yellow and green.
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Oriental cymbidium
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The main cultivation areas of oriental cymbidium in middle of Taiwan are Dongshi and Houli district of Taichung city, Puli, Yuchi and Xinyi township of Nantou county. The total production area in Taiwan is more than 170 hectares. There are more than 100 varieties of oriental cymbidium in Taiwan, the main varieties are Cymbidium ensifolium, Cymbidium sinense and Cymbidium goeringii. For export market, Korea is the largest import country followed by China for Taiwan’s oriental cymbidium exportation. The main export cultivars for oriental cymbidium are Cymbidium ensifolium ‘Tie Gu’, Cymbidium ensifolium ‘Cai Hong’ and Cymbidium sinense 'Shan Chuan'.
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Phalaenopsis
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The cultivation area of Phalaenopsis in Taiwan is about 180 ha, and the production area in middle of Taiwan is about 16 ha. The main varieties are Phalaenopsis Sogo Yukidian ‘V3’, Phal. Tai Lin Red Angel‘V31’, Phal. hybrids ‘Red House’, Phal. hybrid ‘Big Chili’, Phal. ‘Fortune Saltzman’, Phal. ‘Brother Girl’, Phal. ‘Little Gem Stripe-Number One’, Phal. ‘Queen Beer-Red Sky’, and Phal. amabilis.
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Lady’s slippers
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The cultivation area of L ady’s slippers in Taiwan is about 5 heactares. The main production area in middle of Taiwan are Puli township of Nantou country and Dacun township, Pitou township of Changhua county, and Dongshi district, Fengyuan district of Taichung city. The cultivars are mainly ‘White Bear’, 'Angel Hair', 'Red Lantern', 'Formosa Lady', 'Coloratum', and ‘Vinicolor’.
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