A Taiwanese-owned department store operating in Henan Province, China, has placed an order with Taitung County for 24,000kg of pomelos — the largest single order that local farmers have ever received, Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) said yesterday.
Huang said it would also be the first time that Taitung pomelos are shipped to China. He said he hoped the fruit would establish a good reputation in the Chinese market providing a new sales channel for Taitung’s agricultural products.
With the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, Huang said department store chairman Wang Ren-shen (王任生) bought the pomelos from his home country because he wanted to use them as gifts for Chinese employees in Henan’s capital, Zhengzhou City.
Wang, also dubbed “Henan King” by China-based Taiwanese businessmen, was an alumnus of National Taitung University, and cares a lot about Taitung, Huang said.
“We felt very glad and touched that Wang has again made contributions to help develop his hometown,” Huang said, adding that Wang has not only set up scholarships at the university, but also donated a bus to the school.
Huang said the quality of Taitung’s pomelos has improved in recent years, with total production of the fruit expected to reach 480,000kg this year, thanks to a typhoon-free season.
Huang said that if the average price of pomelos were NT$33 per kilogram, Wang’s order would be priced at about NT$792,000.
Huang said Wang’s department store, the largest in Henan Province, was scheduled to hold a Taiwanese products fair between Sept. 28 and Oct. 7 in which more than 20 booths would be provided to Taitung businesses free-of-charge.
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