The price of bananas in Taiwan, which has shot up in recent weeks due to crop damage from several typhoons last year, is expected to remain high until May or June, the Ministry of Agriculture said today.
According to the Agriculture and Food Agency, the price of bananas at Taipei’s First and Second Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Markets yesterday was NT$107.1 per kilogram, up 84.2 percent from NT$58.1 on the same date last year.
The high prices were mainly the result of typhoons that struck Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, the fruit's main growing regions, last year, agency director Yao Chih-wang (姚志旺) said.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
Typhoon damage reduced the current banana crop to “almost nothing,” causing prices to rise, Yao said.
Although farmers have worked to replant and rehabilitate their trees, bananas take about a year before they are ready to harvest, Yao said, adding that he expected prices to moderate during the crop’s next harvest in May and June.
Three typhoons made landfall in Taiwan last year: Typhoon Gaemi on July 25 in Yilan County, Typhoon Krathon on Oct. 3 in Kaohsiung and Typhoon Kong-rey on Oct. 23 in Taitung County.
Aside from bananas, the harvests of jujubes and wax apples were also severely impacted by the typhoons, causing their prices to rise, Yao said.
The price of guavas, which has risen 15.9 percent to NT$68.6 per kilogram compared to last year, is also expected to fall in May or June, he said.
In the meantime, the public is advised to eat citrus fruits, Yao said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS