The price of pineapples in Chiayi County would rise as the government steps up promotion of exports and beverages, Council of Agriculture (COA) Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday, rejecting media reports that prices were collapsing.
The Chinese-language China Times on Sunday reported that pineapple prices in the county had collapsed, with the fruit selling for NT$5, NT$3 and even NT$1 per jin (600g).
Chen yesterday met with Chiayi growers to promote the council’s policy to elevate prices, alongside Chiayi County Commissioner Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁) and Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), both Democratic Progressive Party members.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsun, Taipei Times
The biased report has affected growers, who produce quality pineapples, just as media did last week when they cited a farmer’s false claim that last year he dumped more than 2 million jin of pomeloes in the Zengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫) due to low prices, Chen said.
Due to warmer weather, the harvest season for pineapples arrived 20 days earlier than previously, while some fruit was not sweet enough to sell at full price, Agriculture and Food Agency official Hsu Hui-fei (徐輝妃) said.
Pineapples sell for NT$6 to NT$7 per jin in Chiayi, while prices are NT$9 to NT$13 per jin in Pingtung County, Tainan and Kaohsiung, where the weather is hotter, helping to produce sweeter fruit, Hsu said.
The council since last month has been buying lower-quality pineapples to be used in processed products at NT$5 per kilogram, with the rate rising to NT$8 per kilogram two weeks ago, Chen said, adding that the program is to last until May.
It is consulting beverage and snack producers about possible uses for the fruit, he said.
Prices will surely improve with lower-quality pineapples being used in processed food rather than being sold at markets, Chen said, adding that he would visit the county again if prices did not improve.
Pineapple exports have exceeded 11,000 tonnes so far this year, after there was only 3,000 tonnes exported in the same period last year, he said, adding that full-year exports should reach 40,000 tonnes.
With some growers complaining that companies using large parcels of land leased from Taiwan Sugar Corp have produced too many pineapples, Chen said the council would restrict production at large operations.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
RSS