Starting this week, China has banned imports of Taiwanese sugar apples and wax apples. That’s a big deal for local farmers, since China is by far and away their biggest export market. Luckily, Taiwanese customers are stepping in to help.
Eight kilos of wax apples leave with a happy customer. In this rural district of Kaohsiung City, the fruit is selling like hot cakes.
One woman says she drove here to Liugui District from Tainan after hearing of China’s import ban on sugar apples and wax apples.
A local farmer says his so-called “honey wind chime” wax apples go mostly to China. But of course, that’s no longer possible, leaving bags of ripe wax apples on the trees. Farmers hope the government will step in.
It won’t be possible to find export markets quick enough to make up the shortfall. So online shopping, deliveries, and market stalls seem to be the best way forward.
Growers here are busy taking orders and selling off hundreds of kilos of their crop. One farmer says she is touched by the flood of support.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai says authorities will integrate the shopping platform of the Liugui Farmers Association with ecommerce sites.
The city’s wax apples account for 12% of Taiwan’s total production. If patterns here can be replicated elsewhere, markets should see this fruit flying off the shelves.