Making the leap abroad
In August 2003, Chung Ying-che and Chung Ying-ying went to Europe to attend a koi show, where they discovered some significant differences in the European and Asian markets. Fish that were considered undesirable in Taiwan could fetch a high price in Europe.
“On the other hand, they had no interest in some fish that we thought were really pretty.” The father and daughter mulled over their options before deciding to march into the European market.
In 2010, Sing Chang’s koi earned four gold and eight silver medals in international competitions—an achievement that could well be described as world beating. In 2011, at a Dutch koi convention, the farm earned seven golds and one silver. The performance was the talk of the show, and it forced the world’s koi aficionados to acknowledge the high quality of Taiwanese specimens.
However much glory those international shows confer on award winners, they require a lot of money. Chung Ying-che estimates that it costs more than NT$1 million each time they exhibit. Consequently, they’ve got to make the most of the opportunities for publicity, and they always aim for the highest possible impact.
For this reason, Chung Ying-ying has worked with professional marketing groups to link koi with the “colors of the orient.” At the shows they perform the Japanese tea ceremony to attract customers, and they set off images of brightly colored koi against a background of calligraphies. Ying-ying wears a qipao as she introduces customers to the family’s koi. The heavy oriental flavor attracts the notice of Europeans, and orders have rolled in.
Exporting to Europe sounds like a business opportunity with boundless potential. In which case, why haven’t other Taiwanese fish producers tried it? The answer lies in transport issues and the need for drug tests.
The EU has extremely strict health and pharmaceutical controls, and it has even stricter demands about importing live animals. The Taiwan animal husbandry industry typically administers drugs both to prevent disease and spur growth, and thus can’t pass EU drug inspections.
After understanding the EU situation, Chung Ying-ying suggested that her father take off the bird netting protecting their ponds, because healthy fish are hard for birds to catch. By allowing birds to cull the sick and unhealthy specimens, they don’t need to use drugs. It has also saved them the trouble of manual screening.
Another problem is transport. The trip from Taiwan to Europe is a long one, and sometimes it requires transferring planes. The koi may spend as long as 48 hours confined in small tanks, so the trip always makes Chung Ying-che extremely nervous. The solution they’ve come upon was inspired by “the story of the boiling frog.” First they move the fish they plan on transporting from large ponds to medium-sized ponds, and then finally to small ponds, getting them acclimated to smaller and smaller spaces. Thus conditioned by experience, the fish won’t be killed by the cramped quarters of a long trip (unlike the frog of the story, which was killed by the slowly increasing heat).
Having cleared two difficult hurdles, Sing Chang successfully began exporting to Europe, expanding its business to over NT$20 million annually. Sales to Europe now account for 60% of its business.
Kōhaku (left) display the basic coloration of koi. When you add black spots they become Taishō Sanshoku (center). Shōwa Sanshoku (right), meanwhile, have a quality evocative of ink-wash paintings. These three varieties are bestsellers in Japan, where they are known collectively as “Gosanke.”