Taiwan's disability workshops are facing a sharp drop in mooncake gift-box orders after a political budget fight killed the Presidential Office's annual purchase — bad news for sheltered workshops and the people they employ.

• Opposition lawmakers cut the Presidential Office's discretionary fund, wiping out 15,000 gift boxes ordered from 37 disability groups and sheltered workshops.
• Five Taichung groups lost about 1,500 boxes worth roughly NT$510,000, with one center alone losing a NT$100,000 order.
• Overall orders are running at only a fifth of normal years, squeezed further by rising raw material costs that forced price hikes.
• Taichung's city government has stepped in, with four departments pledging to buy up the cancelled orders.
• Workers who normally put in weekend overtime this season have nothing to do, and ingredients already bought may go to waste.

Outlook: City purchases, corporate inquiries and small public donations may cushion the blow, but groups still expect a weak Mid-Autumn season.