A shipment of a hybrid variety of sugar apples grown by Taitung farmers will be shipped to Brunei on Sunday, as local growers eye new markets following a Chinese import suspension, the Taitung County Agriculture Department said Saturday.
In a press statement, the department said the 3,000-kilogram shipment of the locally grown fruit would be delivered to six retail stores in Brunei.
The estimated arrival date for the hybrid sugar apples is Feb. 13, the department said.
The hybrid fruit, known as an “atemoya,” is a cross between the sugar apple and cherimoya.
In Taiwan, it is known as the sweeter and more pineapple-looking variant of custard apples.
With Taiwan’s optimal climate, Taitung farmers have grown the hybrid for years to meet persistent domestic and Chinese demand.
The department said exporting atemoyas to Brunei was meant to relieve the plight of Taitung farmers in the wake of China’s suspension of certain Taiwanese fruit imports over the last two years.
Taitung County Magistrate Yao Ching-ling (???) has since actively sought out domestic channels and new international markets to help farmers, with Brunei the latest export destination in Southeast Asia after Singapore.
A fruit seller surnamed Kuo (?) said that atemoyas were popular in Brunei because the closest fruit Bruneians have to the hybrid sugar apples — locally grown custard apples — tended to be sourer than their Taiwanese cousins.
Kuo said a number of atemoyas had already been delivered by air to Brunei in January.
The batch that will leave Taiwan’s shores on Sunday will be shipped by sea, which, if quality control is maintained, could be a way for Taiwan-grown atemoyas to enter more Southeast Asian markets, Kuo said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel