Banned in mainland China, 3,000kg of Taiwanese sugar apples head to Brunei

While shipments to Brunei remain relatively small, the move represents a ‘breakthrough’ in Taiwan’s search for new markets, diplomacy expert says

Beijing halted imports of the fruit, also known as custard apples, in September 2001, but Taiwan authorities contested that the ban flouted international rules

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Taiwan is looking for new markets to enjoy its sugar-apples, as a ban on exports to mainland China remains in effect. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 5:00pm, 7 Feb 2023Updated: 5:18pm, 20 Jun 2023

Taiwan is shipping 3,000kg (6,613 pounds) of sugar apples to Brunei, a Southeast Asian market that the island’s officials hope can help offset losses from mainland China’s ban on exports of the sweet green fruit.

Taitung county, where sugar apples help drive the largely agricultural economy, said the shipments began on Sunday and would reach six supermarkets in the small, wealthy Southeast Asian sultanate by February 13.

“Taitung county magistrate Rao Ching-ling indicated that, although the volume isn’t large, it opens a path to a Southeast Asian market, and she hopes to keep up this effort and gradually expand in the Bruneian market,” the county said in a statement.

Mainland China suspended imports of Taiwanese sugar apples, known also as atemoya or custard apples, in September 2021, citing biosafety fears over plant pests. But the Taiwan side said no “scientific proof” was provided, and it complained that the ban did not “comply with international rules”.

Taiwanese sugar apples have been banned by mainland China for nearly a year and a half. Photo: Shutterstock

Taiwanese officials have urged domestic firms over the past seven years to steer business more toward the Southeast Asian market, with its roughly 670 million consumers, to diversify away from mainland China.

Sugar apples grow on 2,800 hectares (6,919 acres) of land in Taitung, according to the county’s agricultural figures. The data also shows that 4,355 tonnes of the fruit were exported worldwide between December 2021 and April last year.

Well-off Southeast Asian consumers will probably buy Taiwanese sugar apples as a “temperate climate” fruit that cannot be found in their tropical homelands, according to Ibrahim Suffian, programme director with the polling group Merdeka Centre in Malaysia.