ABSTRACT

China is the biggest producer of processed vegetables, followed by Taiwan and Thailand. The annual output and exports from China and Thailand in the past few years have been increasing (Ye and Xi, 1996; Song and Tan, 1995), while output and export in Taiwan decreased (Wu, 1996). The Asian popula­ tion of Chinese descent is the largest group of consumers of processed and pre­ served vegetables. In addition to the Chinese, the Japanese and the Koreans are also heavy users of processed and preserved vegetables. In addition, other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam, which have a large population of Chinese immigrants, also adopted processed veg­ etables brought in with the Chinese.