TAINAN, Taiwan — Surrounded by elegant flower stems, Alex Tang is a man in the right place at the right time — an orchid lover in Taiwan.
Tang has always grown orchids in his spare time. Now, after retiring from a job as an engineer in the US, he has returned to his native Taiwan to turn his hobby into a business.
The island is a major flower exporter and two-thirds of the exports are of the phalaenopsis, or moth orchid. Exports of this orchid alone amount to $110 million annually, and the market is growing at 20 per cent a year.
Foreign buyers flock to Tainan in the south to attend the annual International Orchid Exhibition, held this year in February at an orchid plantation on the city's outskirts.
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