Chinese atemoya producers could catch up to Taiwan’s yield and quality within two years, threatening Taitung County producers, Taitung County Councilor Huang Chih-wei (黃治維) said today.
Atemoya, also called pineapple custard apples, are a hybrid between cherimoya and sugar apples, notable for their pale green and bumpy skin.
Ninety percent of atemoya grown in Taiwan originates in Taitung County and the majority is exported to China.
Photo: Huang Ming-tang, Taipei Times
China has replicated Taitung’s planting technology in Hainan, Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces, with China’s production now triple that of Taiwan and a farming area double the size, Huang said.
As quality improves, yield is increasing year-on-year, he said.
In the next two years, Chinese competitors could push out Taiwanese producers, he said, urging farmers to stop planting the crop and the Taitung County Government to take notice of the threat to local producers.
Taitung producers began exporting atemoya to China 10 years ago, with prices peaking at more than NT$100 per jin (600g).
Total farming area now exceeds 2,000 hectares and the fruit has become a vital part of the local economy, with farmers calling it “green gold.”
However, imports were suspended in September 2021, with Chinese customs officials citing “repeated discovery of agricultural pests” in Taiwanese shipments.
Imports resumed in 2023, but last year China imposed tariffs of 20 percent.
The local government had already taken into account the potential threat of Chinese atemoya production and is working to increase exports to Southeast Asia to diversify the market, Taitung County Agriculture Department Director Hsu Chia-hao (許家豪) said.
Taitung still produces the best-quality fruits due to optimal climate and soil conditions, and would be marketed to China as a high-end product, he said.
Two executives of drone supplier Jiin Ming Industry Co (錦明實業) have been detained and held incommunicado over the company's alleged use of prohibited China-made chips and camera lenses in drones supplied under recent military contracts, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors' Office said today. In a statement, prosecutors said they raided the offices of Jiin Ming — headquartered in Taoyuan — as well as those of its subsidiaries and its suppliers on Thursday last week. The raids followed a report that the company had breached its procurement contracts by putting the prohibited components into drones delivered to the military. During the raids, prosecutors summoned
The government would continue monitoring online rumors that a pneumonic plague outbreak has spread from Russia into China and could enhance existing quarantine measures, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said today. During a legislative meeting, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said rumors were circulating that the disease had spread across several Chinese provinces. He asked Cho whether the government was prepared to prevent the disease from spreading to Taiwan, given the frequent exchanges between Taiwan and China, and how concerned the government was about the alleged outbreak. The Ministry of Health and Welfare implemented border quarantine measures after briefing the Executive Yuan
South Korean boy band BigBang drew 120,000 fans to three concerts at Taipei Dome from Friday through yesterday, as the band thanked them for their support over their 20-year career. The Taipei Dome concerts were part of BigBang's "2026-2027 World Tour XX: Cosmos." Friday's concert was BigBang's first performance in Taiwan in 11 years. During the encore, group leader G-Dragon (GD) shouted "I love you" in Chinese and said he was especially happy to perform in Taiwan with bandmates Taeyang and Daesung. "Taipei, I'm very grateful to you all," GD said in Chinese, asking fans to wait for the band's return. Daesung thanked
MAYORAL RACE: Su Chiao-hui made gains by persuading undecided voters and winning over voters in KMT-leaning districts, a pollster said Legislator Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate for New Taipei City mayor, has a 13.1 percentage point lead over her Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), a poll released yesterday showed. The poll, commissioned by the Taipei Trust in Democracy Association, showed that 43.1 percent of respondents said they would vote for Su, up 7.9 percentage points from a poll conducted in late August, while support for Lee was at 30 percent, down 4.7 percentage points. It showed that 48.6 percent of respondents thought Su would make a suitable mayor, compared with 35.9 percent for Lee. Independent candidate
RSS