Taiwan media: If the mainland no longer imports Pineapple, Lotus Mist and Soursop from Taiwan, Taiwan will lose nearly 4 billion yuan per year

Source: World Wide Web

The General Administration of Customs issued a notice on the 18th that due to the detection of quarantine pests, the import of cherimoya and lotus mist from Taiwan will be suspended from September 20. According to Taiwan media reports, according to public information from Taiwan's "Agricultural Committee," if the mainland does not import pineapples, lotus mist, and soursop in the future, Taiwan will lose nearly 4 billion yuan (NT$, the same below) every year.

Lotus Mist (Image source: Taiwan media)

According to Taiwan Minshi News, Taiwan's fresh fruits imported into the mainland from 2018 to 2020 will be the largest pineapple, reaching 122876 tons, worth 4.3 billion yuan; followed by 39,171 tons of cherimoya, worth about 3.1 billion yuan; lotus mist 12,536 tons, worth 1.351 billion yuan. Taking 2019 as an example, the total amount of 1.193 billion yuan of cherimoya, 575 million yuan of lotus mist and 1.962 billion yuan of pineapple exported to the mainland has been 3.73 billion; that is to say, if the mainland continues to ban these three fruits, Taiwan may lose more than 4 billion yuan in output value every year in the future.

In response to the announcement by the General Administration of Customs that it will suspend the import of Taiwanese sourskin and lotus mist from September 20 due to the "detection of quarantine pests", Taiwan's Liberty Times reported that the Kuomintang said that according to the statistics of the "Committee of Agriculture", the mainland market accounts for 90% of Taiwan's exports of soursop and lotus mist, which can be seen to be deeply loved by mainland consumers. It is hoped that the DPP authorities will take concrete actions to solve the problem and not let "love the peasants" become a slogan.

According to the Kuomintang, whether the cherimoya and lotus mist carry diseases and insect pests, and whether the insect pests they carry pose a serious threat to the place of import, need to be determined through scientific professional rigor. The KUOMINTANG suggested that Taiwan send a delegation of experts to the mainland to clarify the facts and resolve the dispute through bilateral negotiations.

The KMT mentioned that in the past, during the KMT administration, the two sides of the strait signed the "Cross-Strait Agreement on Quarantine inspection and Inspection of Agricultural Products.", and in accordance with Article 9 of the agreement, the two sides agreed to establish a mechanism for coordinating the handling of major quarantine inspection emergencies, and to promptly notify and quickly verify. It is hoped that Taiwan will make good use of it and strive for the greatest rights and interests of farmers.