China News Service, Taitung, Taiwan, September 24. Title: Visiting the Taitung pineapple and custard apple production and sales chain
China News Service reporter Zhu He
In September, the sun is shining brightly in Taitung, Taiwan. Drive north from Taimali Township to Beinan Township, which takes about half an hour. On one side is the blue Pacific Ocean, and on the other side are custard apple orchards flashing from time to time. This is the main producing area of custard apple in Taiwan.
On the bank of Beinan Creek, fruit farmer Cai Hongyi’s pineapple custard apple (also known as “custard apple”) orchard of about 7 hectares is located here. The branches and leaves are intertwined to create shade, dotted with tiny flowers, and the rows of fruit trees are widely spaced so that trucks and weeding trucks can pass smoothly. Cai Hongyi told reporters that it is now the pollination period, and through staged pollination, fruit harvesting can be extended from December to April of the following year.
The mainland has become an important export destination for Taiwan’s pineapple and sugar apples. During the Straits Forum in June this year, mainland enterprises signed contracts with enterprises and business associations in many places in Taiwan to purchase agricultural and fishery products, and Taitung pineapple and custard apples were among them.
Cai Hongyi hopes that his own fruits will enter the mainland through the Hainan Free Trade Zone, which will reduce tariffs and transportation costs. Currently, traders have come to contact him.
From the orchard to the table, pineapple custard apples need to go through picking, grading, cleaning, packaging and other processes. Wang Yifeng, a Taitung pineapple and sugar apple packaging manufacturer that cooperates with more than 30 farmers, told reporters that the mainland is its largest export market.
Guangxi, Yunnan and other places have successively invested in the cultivation of pineapple custard apples in recent years. Wang Yifen believes that Taitung can differentiate itself from mainland fruits in terms of quality and size due to decades of planting experience and local soil environment. "Taking the high-end, exquisite fruit route can further expand sales."
Walking into the orchard of Lin Zhaohong, the leader of the 46th class of fruit tree production and marketing in Beinan Township, the reporter saw that the main branches of the pineapple and sugar apple trees here were pulled and fixed by iron frames to form a regular crown. Lin Zhaohong introduced that this cultivation method can significantly enhance the ability to resist typhoons.
A supermarket chain that is deeply involved in the mainland market signed a contract with Lin Zhaohong two years ago, setting a precedent for Taitung pineapple custard apples to enter high-end supermarkets in mainland China. Lin Zhaohong said that a sufficient and stable market is the most practical guarantee.
"Despite competition, the mainland is still the most promising incremental market for Taiwanese fruit farmers." Taiwanese agricultural expert Chen Tangping said in an interview with a reporter from China News Service that Taiwan is good at "small but refined" high-quality agronomy and variety selection; the mainland has a "large and comprehensive" market, industrial chain and infrastructure. "The two are complementary in their differences."
He suggested that a hierarchical ordering mechanism should be established, with high-quality fruits shipped by air directly to the mainland’s high-end market, and bulk shelf-stable fruits shipped by sea, with separate pricing and distribution channels.
Chen Tangping analyzed that the longer the transportation distance for seasonal fresh fruits such as pineapples and custard apples, the higher the preservation pressure and logistics costs. For Taiwan, the mainland is the only large market that combines market size, transportation distance advantages, and cold chain feasibility.
