Taiwan pineapple was suspended from imports by the mainland in March last year, and was sold to other countries and regions. Among them, the Japanese market was "most successful" and made a name for "democratic pineapple". However, recently, Taiwan's pineapple has frequently experienced problems such as bad hearts in the Japanese market, and the price has also collapsed. The "Committee on Agriculture" is unreasonable to blame. If it is not improved as soon as possible, it will ruin the Japanese market.
Check the statistics of the "Committee of Agriculture" agricultural trade website. The pineapple sold to Japan was nearly 18,000 metric tons last year, with an annual growth of 7.25 times, which is the sum of exported to Japan in the past 20 years, effectively alleviating the impact of being unable to be sold to the mainland. The "Committee of Agriculture" also issued a check in April, and the overall export of pineapple will reach 30,000 metric tons, and Japan is of course the main goal. "Chairman" Chen Jizhong particularly emphasized that Taiwanese pineapples are deeply loved by the Japanese, and the price falls between 600 and 900 yen . If the quality is better in the future, the price can be sold better. He also said that "the export market has been successfully transferred and no longer depends on China!"
Chen Jizhong's sonorous tone is still in his ears. Recently, major quality defects in Taiwan pineapple have been constantly occurring in the Japanese market, such as: residual moth , internal black heart, moldy bottom, over-acid fruit, and even corruption. As the quality is unstable and the topic of supporting Taiwan fades, prices continue to decline, with an outrageous price of only 100 yen (about New Taiwan dollars 24 yuan), which is even lower than the price in Taiwan, and even less than the farmers' costs.
In response to this, the "Commission of Agriculture" pushed the problem to delayed shipping schedule and poor checks in the cargo yard. Chen Jizhong also said: "Compared with last year, there are much fewer black-hearted pineapples." He offered pineapples with no subsidy price of less than 300 yen per kilogram, but was unable to find out the violators.
is just these problems. Everyone seems familiar. Last year, the mainland detected scale insect , and suspended the input of Taiwan pineapple. Chen Jizhong criticized the mainland for "political manipulation" and was completely incompatible with international trade norms. He also made a big move to raise "specific trade concerns" to WTO. In June of the same year, New Zealand was also banned from importing lychees and mangoes in Taiwan due to pests. Chen Jizhong reiterated that he would respect the treatment of local import places; the fruit was overacided and defects such as "black-hearted pineapple" were all sold to Singapore, and the local supermarket in Singapore were removed from the shelves. At that time, "Chairman" Chen Jizhong also publicly expressed his apology and promised to improve temperature control.
In fact, these problems can be prevented in advance. Haven’t you seen that the quality of pineapples in Philippine is relatively stable, and there are few similar problems. In 2017, the "Committee of Agriculture" sent personnel to the largest American business in the Philippines to inspect the origin of Dole. The report conclusion suggests that Dole be followed by scientific management. Regardless of the process of planting, harvesting, grading, disinfection, packaging, refrigeration and transportation, there are strict requirements, so as to achieve stable quality and extend the market life cycle.
"Committee on Agriculture" claims to have established a standard operating process for exporting pineapples, but problems are still abounding today. Obviously, the SOP procedures have not been implemented, which makes export quality unstable. In addition, traders rush to the market to harvest too early, further deteriorating the image of Taiwan's pineapple. When the pineapple was first launched, the fruit was small, the ripeness was insufficient, the sweetness was insufficient, and the medicine was used for a large amount. However, in order to grab the market, traders quickly promoted the pineapple that was not ripe and had poor quality on the market. According to the information on the "Committee of Agriculture" website, the main delivery period of Taiwan's pineapple is from March to September. In March this year (the first batch of poor quality pineapples) were exported to Japan as high as 6,240 metric tons, which was close to the historical monthly export peak of 6,457 metric tons in May last year, resulting in a series of negative reviews.
In recent years, due to good relations between Taiwan and Japan, and the view that the mainland blockade of Taiwan’s pineapple imports is a so-called “bullying behavior”, it has attracted Japanese people to rush to snatch Taiwanese pineapple in the name of “democracy or freedom”. However, products cannot rely on the "democratic dividend" to sell well, and ultimately they must gain consumer recognition with quality. No wonder " Nikkei Shimbun " believes that Taiwan's pineapple has oversupply and prices are falling. It is estimated that imports may decline from May.
"Committee on Agriculture" did not remember the lessons of the past exports, and almost devoted himself to democratic marketing and export subsidies, while ignoring the control of the quality of pineapples, which made the image of Taiwan's pineapples plummet. If quality is not significantly improved, the export of pineapple may end when the "democratic dividend" is exhausted.
(This article was published by Zeng Zhichao, Deputy Secretary-General of the Taiwan Economic and Financial Association, in comments on the Taiwan media "United Daily")
