Recently released data from Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture indicate that in 2019 Taiwan imported $694 million worth of fresh and frozen fruit, which represents a year-on-year (YOY) increase of 1.81%. The top three fruit suppliers to Taiwan in 2019 by export value were the U.S. ($259 million, +14.84% YOY), New Zealand ($154 million, −6.81% YOY) and Chile ($98 million, −20.25% YOY), the same ranking as that seen in 2018.

According to the statistics, the top-performing fruit import categories by value included apples ($267 million, 167,090 tons), kiwifruit ($110 million, 34,569 tons), cherries ($102 million, 12,929 tons), grapes ($93 million, 34,432 tons), peaches ($51 million, 16,745 tons), other citrus ($24 million, 14,537 tons), pears ($24 million, 12,607 tons), oranges ($18 million, 19,961 tons), coconuts ($12 million, 13,256 tons) and plums ($8 million, 3,891 tons).

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s fresh and frozen fruit exports in 2019 reached a total value of $185 million, corresponding to a YOY increase of 37.24%. Mainland China ($148 million, +43.02% YOY) remained Taiwan’s most important non-domestic market and accounted for approximately 80% of total fruit exports. Japan and Hong Kong took the second and third spots, with export values to these two markets reaching $12 million (+17.60% YOY) and $9 million (+28.63% YOY), respectively.

According to the statistics, the top-performing fruit export categories by value were pineapples ($67 million, 52,679 tons), sugar apples (Annona squamosa, $40 million, 14,355 tons), other citrus ($32 million, 14,178 tons), mangos ($27 million, 9,534 tons), wax apples (Syzygium samarangense, $19 million, 4,909 tons), pomelos ($7 million, 4,912 tons), ponkan ($7 million, 4,324 tons), grapes ($7 million, 4,151 tons), bananas ($4 million, 2,923 tons) and grapefruit ($3 million, 1,646 tons).

Taking a closer look at the cross-strait fruit trade in 2019, Taiwan was heavily reliant on the vastness of mainland China for its exports of pineapples ($64.5 million, 51,112 tons), sugar apples ($38.85 million, 13,927 tons), wax apples ($18.63 million, 4,836 tons), other citrus ($17.63 million, 10,146 tons), mangos ($10.57 million, 4,786 tons), pomelos ($6.52 million, 4,370 tons), grapes ($2.65 million, 3,178 tons), grapefruit ($2 million, 1,399 tons), ponkan ($1.55 million, 603 tons) and oranges ($0.84 million, 930 tons).

Conversely, the main fruit categories exported from mainland China to Taiwan in 2019 were apples ($6.45 million, 5,126 tons), other citrus ($1.79 million, 1,609 tons), grapes ($1.24 million, 514 tons), peaches ($0.53 million, 496 tons), prunes ($0.33 million, 222 tons), pineapples ($77,000, 73 tons), kiwifruit ($77,000, 53 tons), lychees ($64,000, 42 tons) and cherries ($8,000, 10 tons).

Image: Pixabay

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article [3].