The Taiwan International Orchid Show, one of the island's major flower exhibitions, attracted a record number of orders and participants this year, the organizer of the event said Wednesday. A record NT$5.5 billion (US$173 million) in export ordersV- to be delivered over the next three to five years -- were placed at this year's show in Tainan County, about 53 percent higher than the previous year, said county Magistrate Su Huan-jhih. Some 320,000 visitors attended the show held at Taiwan Orchid Plantation in Houbi Township from March 6-15, up 20,000 from 2009. Buyers at the show came from 32 countries, three more than the 29 last year, according to Su. Although Taiwan's orchid businesses were seriously harmed by Typhoon Morakot last year, they quickly recovered with the assistance of the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture, which immediately set up a technology service team to offer guidance on rehabilitation and low-rate loans, Su said. That allowed affected orchid growers to recover within half a year rather than the two years that would have otherwise been necessary, he added. According to customs figures, exports of Taiwan-grown orchids, which account for nearly 79 percent of Taiwan's horticultural exports, totaled US$86.8 million in 2009, up 7.4 percent from a year earlier. And the exports of Taiwan's most popular orchid variety, the butterfly orchid, totaled US$63.87 million in 2009, up about 22 percent from US$52.2 million in 2008. Su expected sales of Taiwan's butterfly orchids to the U.S. and Japan to grow 10 to 15 percent a year. 'It is not a dream for Taiwan's Orchid Plantation to reach a production value of NT$10 billion per year,' said Su. However, Lin Feng-pei, the secretary-general of the Taiwan Orchid Growers Association, said that Taiwan's orchid industry is facing growing competition from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, which have sent representatives to Taiwan in recent years to learn from Taiwan's experience. Taiwan needs to enhance energy-saving, automation and R&D technologies to maintain its edge in the orchid industry, Lin said. 