The Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute has received temporary intellectual property protection for a new pineapple variety it developed in 2019, after registering the cultivar with the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries last year, the institute said on Tuesday.
The new variety, named Tainung No. 23, was developed by the institute’s Chiayi Agricultural Experiment Station, which has introduced 18 different pineapple varieties in Taiwan since 1934, beginning with Tainung No. 1.
The institute on Oct. 18 last year registered the pineapple with the Japanese ministry for intellectual property protection in the Japanese market, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute
The ministry on May 6 granted Tainung No. 23 temporary protection, the institute said, adding that further evaluation is to be conducted in Japan before deciding on full protection.
Intellectual property registration of new agricultural products prevents other vendors from marketing the new varieties as their own.
Tainung No. 23 has a mango fragrance, delicate taste and no apparent fibers, the institute said, adding that the variety has a long shelf life, making it suitable for export.
Japan has become the leading destination for exports of Taiwanese pineapples, after China banned imports of the Taiwanese fruit in February last year.
Of the 28,664 tonnes exported from Taiwan last year, 17,850 tonnes — 62.3 percent — went to Japan, Council of Agriculture statistics show.
China imported 50,168 tonnes of pineapples from Taiwan in 2019, and 41,661 tonnes in 2020.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Passengers aboard Korean Airlines Flight KE189 arrived in Taichung safely yesterday after a scare the previous day encountering uncontrolled decompression, which injured 13 passengers. Flight KE189 departed from Incheon at 4:45pm on Saturday bound for Taichung with 125 passengers on board. The flight was above Jeju Island when a fault in the pressurization system occurred 50 minutes after takeoff. Online flight tracker Flightradar24’s data show that the plane dropped more than 8,000 meters within 15 minutes, before it returned and landed back at Incheon Airport at 19:38pm. Thirteen passengers on board had a headache or earache due to the incident and were hospitalized. A different
China might seek to isolate Taiwan and weaken its economy through a “quarantine,” which would make it difficult for the US to respond and force Taipei to negotiate on unification, CNN reported on Saturday. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “increasingly bellicose actions” toward Taiwan have heightened concerns that Beijing would use its military against Taiwan, it said, citing a report by think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). However, China might choose to initiate a quarantine, rather than a military invasion of Taiwan, to avoid US involvement, it said. “A quarantine [is] a law enforcement-led operation to control
A new message broadcast on the Taipei MRT’s Wenhu (Brown) Line urging passengers to yield their seats to those in need, not necessarily elderly people, would be extended to other MRT lines and public transportation in the capital, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday. Chiang was responding to reporters’ questions on the sidelines of a news conference at Taipei City Hall promoting healthy walking. Several disputes over priority seats on public transportation have recently been reported, sparking debate about who qualifies to sit in them, as most of the cases involved elderly people asking young people to give up their