A new Hong Kong marketing campaign aims to sell Taiwanese winter fruits, such as jujubes, guavas, wax apples, oranges, pineapples, papayas, grapes, atemoyas and honey apples, the Council of Agriculture said on Friday.
“We would like to share sweet tastes from Taiwan with Hong Kongers as the Spring Festival approaches,” council official Tang Shu-hua (唐淑華) said at a promotional event in the territory, using a different name for the Lunar New Year.
The council said it was its first time cooperating with the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) to promote fresh seasonal fruit from Taiwan in Hong Kong.
Photo: CNA
The organizations are also arranging meetings between Hong Kong sellers and Taiwanese representatives of farmers’ associations and cooperatives to boost business contacts, TAITRA said.
“Taiwan-Hong Kong exchanges are increasing,” TAITRA Secretary-General Walter Yeh (葉明水) said, adding that the number of visits to Hong Kong by Taiwanese has reached 2 million annually, while journeys to Taiwan by Hong Kong residents reached 1.6 million last year.
“As the Lunar New Year approaches, we have taken a wide range of distinctive Taiwan fruit to Hong Kong in the hope of boosting sales of agricultural produce in the Chinese market,” Yeh said.
Taiwan sold US$313.99 million of produce to Hong Kong in 2017, making the territory the fifth-largest buyer of the nation’s agricultural exports.
The council has worked hard to promote local fruit around the world, it said, adding that last year, Taiwan exported a record US$269 million of fresh fruit and fruit-related products, up 19.3 percent from 2017.
Fresh fruit exports increased nearly 30 percent to US$135 million last year, the council said.
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