《TAIPEI TIMES》Taiwan-NZ deal allows pineapple exports to start

By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

Taiwanese pineapples can be exported to New Zealand after the two countries yesterday signed an export agreement for fresh fruit and vegetables.

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The agreement was signed during a meeting of the sanitary and phytosanitary measures joint management committee, which was formed under the Agreement Between New Zealand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Cooperation.

This is a major breakthrough after the Ministry of Agriculture provided information that Wellington sought over the past eight years, it said.

The deal stipulates that pineapple exports to New Zealand must be managed systematically, it said.

They must be harvested in the mature green stage and records of production, harvest, management and transportation must be kept for tracing purposes, it said.

Training should be provided to pineapple growers before the export season starts every year, it added.

To export pineapples to New Zealand, crown buds should be removed, the ministry said.

After the fruit arrives in New Zealand, 600 pineapples would be examined by quarantine officers to ensure that the fruit do not carry insects that would harm the local agricultural industry, it said.

Aside from New Zealand, Taiwanese pineapples are exported to Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Palau, Guam, the Netherlands and Russia.

As of yesterday, 7,612 tonnes of Taiwanese pineapples had been exported overseas this year, 7,390 of which went to Japan, ministry data showed.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES