Japan’s “Taiwan pineapple fever”
In response to a government policy to promote pineapple exports, most recently the goal of breeding has been to produce pineapples that stand up well to storage and transportation. Tainung No. 23 ‘Mango Pineapple’ combines the advantages of its parent varieties (No. 19 pollinated by No. 21) and has a mango fragrance. It can be stored and shipped for up to 21 days, making it possible to expand export markets from Japan and Korea to the US, Canada, and Australia.
Greenland Cooperative, in Pingtung’s Gaoshu Township, is one of Taiwan’s biggest cooperatives growing pineapples for export, with some 140 hectares of land currently planted with this fruit. Aside from 20 hectares used to produce native pineapples for pineapple cake maker SunnyHills, 100 hectares is growing ‘Golden Diamond’ pineapples. Some of these are supplied to the PX Mart and Carrefour supermarket chains, but most are exported. Greenland’s sales to Japan in particular have continually expanded in recent years, from 1000 metric tons in 2020 to 2000 tons in 2021, with 2500 tons expected in 2022.
In March 2021, mainland China banned imports of Taiwanese pineapples. Thanks to cooperation between the government and fruit growers and marketers, orders were instead picked up from Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Sales to Japan increased ninefold, to 18,000 tons.
The “Taiwan pineapple fever” that has swept Japan has not been driven just by Taiwanese firms and individuals based there. Japanese consumers are willing to spend ¥800 on a Taiwanese pineapple in part because of their gratitude for Taiwan’s support following the earthquake and tsunami ten years ago, demonstrating the depth of friendship between Taiwan and Japan.
Greenland first exported pineapples to Canada in 2021. Because a shipping container can only hold 672 boxes of pineapples, Taiwan pineapples priced at C$20 each were snapped up by consumers as soon as they reached Toronto supermarkets.
Pineapples are currently Taiwan’s top export fruit by quantity.(photo by Jupiter Chang, courtesy of Greenland Cooperative)