China on Sept. 20 slapped Taiwan with a politically motivated NT$4 billion (US$143.36 million) annual fine with its ban on imports of sugar apples and wax apples from the nation, following Beijing’s pineapple ban in March, which combined will cost Taiwan that much every year in lost exports.
What is more upsetting is that China is targeting Taiwan’s most vulnerable regions. Taitung County, a beautiful but poor stretch of land on the east coast, grows nearly all of the nation’s sugar apples.
Every year, Taitung exports about 95 percent of Taiwan’s sugar apples. Nearly all of these go to China. Hopefully, the ban ends before Lunar New Year next year, when most sugar apple exporting occurs. If the ban stays in place, Taitung would lose a vital source of income in a county that is already struggling to find jobs for young people.
China’s import ban on agricultural products, especially ones that spoil quickly, is intentionally painful. If China were to ban semiconductor imports, Taiwan would just shrug, because the rest of the world is hungry for chips.
On the other hand, Taiwan must address the lost income from China’s fruit ban. When sugar apples rot under the sun, farmers do not eat. This vulnerability gives China leverage and makes military aircraft in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone seem even louder.
Creating an international appetite for sugar apples can dampen the effects of Chinese economic coercion.
On Monday, Taitung took a small but significant step toward extracting itself from China’s sphere of influence. Members of the Taitung County Government and the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Kaohsiung Office discussed the future of sugar apple exports.
It is going to be a challenge weaning exporters off selling to the low-hanging fruit that is China. It is the ideal market in many ways, with many affluent people who like sugar apples.
Moreover, fresh sugar apples can be transported to China quickly, which is critical for a fruit that spoils easily.
On the other hand, Japan does not allow Taiwan to import fresh sugar apples because of oriental fruit fly issues. Even though the Taitung County Government has enacted a strict zero-pest policy, Japan is still wary of any risks.
Getting sugar apples to Japan is possible, but it costs about NT$100 more per fruit than shipping them to China. The added costs come mainly from having to freeze potential pests at minus-40°C and keep the fruit cold during shipping.
Exporters say that Taiwan has the technology to prepare and ship frozen fruit, but the most pressing issues involve education — mainly getting people abroad excited about something exotic and foreign.
Most people in Japan and the US do not know that under a sugar apple’s lumpy green skin lies a paradise of sweet creamy fruit.
Some might say that Americans would never be interested in sugar apples because the skin is not eaten and the seeds are spit out, but a fruit that sings Americana has just those qualities — the watermelon.
Attitudes toward food are malleable. At one point, many Americans thought sushi was just raw, slimy fish. Now, it is a delicacy served at Michelin-rated restaurants. Sugar apples have the same potential to become an exotic and trendy treat. It is a matter of marketing and perception.
Changing perceptions takes time, something that farmers in Taitung do not have, so the central government has taken positive action and earmarked NT$1 billion in subsidies for farmers affected by China’s import bans.
Financial relief might be necessary this year, because finding a market so quickly for sugar apples would be much harder than pineapples, a fruit that most people in the wealthy world are familiar with.
Instead of simply handing out cash indefinitely, the government should use this money to send delegations abroad to educate foreign audiences on how to enjoy sugar apples.
During Monday’s meeting, Japan-Taiwan office Deputy Representative Huruta Kiyoshi suggested that Taitung attend the annual Foodex Japan expo in Tokyo in March next year.
A Taiwanese delegation at Foodex could show off sugar apples to tasters from around the world. Foodex and other expos give Taitung an excellent chance to create a market for sugar apples outside of China.
Taiwan should prepare for a post-China market for its fruit, and everything else for that matter. China might reopen to the world. It all depends on the whims of a government that prioritizes politics over free markets.
It is imperative that Taipei helps keep the Taitung sugar apple industry alive. If it dies, young people from poor counties such as Taitung would have one more good reason to move to already overcrowded cities in the nation’s north.
Theodore Leshnick is a writer based in Taichung.
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