Plans to export Taiwanese pineapples to New Zealand were first initiated in 2017
New Zealand has approved the bid for access to Taiwanese pineapples following the signing of a bilateral agreement between governments on 9 April.
According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture, the agreement was signed by representatives from its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration and New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries.
Under the agreement, pineapples exported to New Zealand must adopt systematic management measures and be harvested during the green and ripe stage. Records of the production, harvesting, processing, and transportation processes of the goods must be kept for traceability, and education and training should be carried out annually before each export season. The crown buds of exported pineapples should also be removed, and 600 pineapples should be sampled during export quarantine to confirm that the goods are not contaminated with pests of concern to New Zealand.
In order to develop the New Zealand market, the Ministry of Agriculture has actively used quarantine consultations to achieve market access for a number of products in recent years, including mangoes and lychees.
The Ministry of Agriculture emphasised that pineapples are an important export flagship fruit for Taiwan. Growers can produce them year-round by using different areas, varieties, and production-time adjustment techniques.
Currently, Taiwanese pineapples can be exported to Canada, Japan, Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Brunei, UAE, Bahrain, Indonesia, Palau, Guam, Marshall, the Netherlands and Russia.
