The Chinese mainland will remove tariffs of another 19 categories of agricultural products from Taiwan as of March 20, said Wang Xinpei, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce on Friday.

These products includes eleven types of vegetables and eight kinds of aquatic products, such as cabbage, cauliflower, taro, hairtail,flatfish and shrimp, he said.

The mainland has already removed tariffs on 11 categories of vegetables and eight kinds of aquatic products. It also granted market access to 22 categories of Taiwan fruit and removed tariffs on 15 of them.

"The Chinese mainland will import more agricultural products and food from Taiwan," Wang said.

"We also hope Taiwan authorities can take substantial measures to promote trade of agricultural products and related exchanges and cooperation between the mainland and Taiwan," he said.

Statistics show that cross-straits trade in agricultural products had totaled 421 million U.S. dollars by the end of 2004 and closer ties in the last three years have spurred an influx of Taiwanese products into the mainland market.

In 2005, Taiwan exported a total of 3,400 tons of fruit to the mainland, worth 3.22 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 35 percent over 2004.

Source: Xinhua