Ya pear

Chinese officials announced yesterday they had granted market access to Taiwanese pears, effective from 14 December.

Taiwan now has access for 23 types of fruit into the mainland Chinese market, said Yang Yi, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.

Speaking on the same day, Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture (COA) announced the country had posted a US$8.7m surplus in the trade of fruit with China for the first 11 months of 2011.

Chang Shu-hsien, chief of the COA’s Department of International Affairs, said Taiwan’s fruit exports to China from January to November tallied up to US$9.13m, compared to imports from China of just US$430,000, reported Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

For November, the highest value fruit exports to China were, in order, pineapples, pomelos, custard apples and bananas.