Vietnamese dragon fruit comes back to Taiwan

Illustrative Image (VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) –  China’s Taiwan will begin importing Vietnamese dragon fruit again, Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People’s Army) newspaper reported.

The Plant Protection Department (PPD) on April 12 announced that Taiwan has agreed to reopen its doors to Vietnamese white flesh dragon fruit, starting from June 2016, after several years of interruption.

The news was welcomed by dragon fruit growers and exporters as Taiwan is a promising market for the fruit.

The PPD is working with authorized bodies to complete procedures for exporting the fruit.
When the market opens, Vietnam may ship more than 13,000 tonnes of dragon fruit to Taiwan per year.

Previously, Vietnam exported about 10,000 tonnes of dragon fruit to Taiwan per year, however from 2009 exports halted, due to Vietnam suffering from an epidemic of fruit flies along with Thailand, the Philippines, India, China, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Vietnam exported over one million tonnes of dragon fruit in 2015.-VNA