Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (???) visited Tokyo's Central Wholesale Market on Monday to promote Taiwan-grown produce, such as green jujubes, and thanked Japanese consumers for their support for Taiwanese fruit.

Speaking at a news conference held at the wholesale market ahead of Foodex Japan 2023, Chen hailed the sale of green jujubes from Kaohsiung in Japan.

He personally guaranteed the fruit's quality to the Japanese public, saying it had passed strict quarantine measures imposed by Japanese authorities before being able to be marketed in Japan.

Also present at the event was Nobuyuki Tanaka, chairman of importer Maruei, who has promised to help boost the sale of Kaohsiung-grown jujubes in the Japanese market.

In addition to 400 boxes of green jujubes that are being sold in Japan, Tanaka said his company would import 1,500 boxes of Taiwanese pineapples between late March and mid-May.

Chen handed Tanaka a certificate of appreciation, thanking him for marketing Golden Diamond pineapples in the Kanto region last year, when China halted the importation of the fruit from Taiwan.

Also on Monday, Taiwan's top representative in Japan Frank Hsieh (???) and visiting Council of Agriculture (COA) deputy chief Chen Junne-jih (???) attended an event hosted by Japanese fruit and vegetable importer Farmind.

The event was held to promote packaged pineapple chunks from Taiwan at an outlet of the Kasumi convenience store chain in Tokyo.

Farmind Chairman Tatsuo Horiuchi praised the quality of Taiwanese pineapples, which he said were a hit among Japanese consumers last year.

According to Farmind, the company planned to purchase 1,000 metric tons of pineapples from Taiwan this year.

Taiwan's exports of pineapples to Japan jumped to 17,850 metric tons in 2021 and 17,500 metric tons in 2022 from 2,160 metric tons in 2020, making it the leading importer of Taiwan-grown pineapples.

Overall, Taiwan's pineapple exports fell in 2022 to 20,473 metric tons, from 28,666 metric tons in 2021, largely because of China's ban on the fruit that also led to a steep drop in pineapple exports to Hong Kong.

The United States and Japan became Taiwan's leading and second-largest fruit and vegetable export markets last year, topping China, the COA said in a statement.

In 2022, Taiwan sold agricultural and farm products to non-Chinese markets worth a record NT$135.4 billion (US$4.5 billion), up 6.3 percent over 2021, the COA said.

Taiwan agricultural and farm exports to Japan totaled NT$25.4 billion last year, a 17.5 percent increase year-on-year, it said.

The COA said jujubes, mullet roe, pineapples, grouper, processed pork products and tea will be the primary items promoted at the Taiwan pavilion featuring 151 Taiwanese entities during Foodex Japan 2023, being held March 7-10.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel