After more than two years, China has lifted a ban on the import of Taiwanese pomelos in time for this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said today.
China has temporarily halted the import of Taiwanese citrus fruits since Aug. 3, 2022, including pomelo.
However, China has since April hinted that fruit exports could restart soon.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
The bureau today said that it received notice through the Cross-Strait Agreement on Cooperation of Agricultural Product Quarantine and Inspection (海峽兩岸農產品檢疫檢驗合作協議) that China would restart the import of pomelos.
Taiwan and China are to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in two weeks.
As of now, no manufacturers have offered to export to China as the notice was just received today, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
As of the end of last month, Taiwan’s pomelo exports reached 1,464 tonnes.
The main recipients are Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada, with these exports set to continue.
Two of Taiwan’s top three producers, Tainan’s Madou District (麻豆) and Hualien County’s Rueisuei District (瑞穗), have already finished their harvest, while Yunlin County’s Douliou City (斗六) has finished 90 percent and northern regions have completed about 70 to 90 percent, the Agriculture and Food Agency said.
This year, Taiwan’s annual production yield is estimated to be 62,000 tonnes, about 20 percent lower than last year, the agency said.
However, the increased rain brought by typhoons has ensured high-quality fruit with balanced sweetness and acidity, it added.
China has also banned Taiwanese imports of largehead hairtail fish and frozen horse mackerel.
Chinese General Administration of Customs Vice Minister Zhao Zenglian (趙增連) on April 28 said the agency plans to reopen Taiwanese imports of fruits and fish that can satisfy China’s quarantine requirements on the basis of scientific assessment.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS