Consumption of Fresh Fruits, Especially Apple, in Taiwan

choi

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Amy Chang-Chien Hsueh, Taiwan: Fresh Deciduous Fruit Annual (report).
Foreign Agricultural Service, US Department of Agriculture. Dec.18, 2009
(GAIN Report Number: TW9064).
http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/FRESH%20DECIDUOUS%20FRUIT%20ANNUAL_Taipei_Taiwan_12-18-2009.pdf

Quote:

"The apple is, far and away, the most heavily consumed imported fruit in
Taiwan. [Note the word "import," for this excludes locally grown oranges;
see below]  Fuji, with its sweet taste and firm texture, remains the
overwhelmingly favored variety – recently accounting for 90% of total
retail apple sales. Local apple production is negligible supplying only some
3% of domestic demand.


"Characteristics of the Taiwan Fruit Market

* World‟s highest per capita consumption of fresh fruit -- 135 kgs
which is about 2-3 times more than other countries.

* Imported fruit market share vs domestic fruit -- 10% by value; 25% by
volume

* In Taiwan, there is no trait that is “too sweet,” always the sweeter the
better.


"The apple is currently the most heavily consumed imported fruit in Taiwan.
Only oranges, 95% of which are grown domestically, are consumed in greater
quantity. However, in terms of real growth, the apple is losing ground to a
host of other imported fruits, including peaches/nectarines, kiwifruits,
grapes, plums, pears, and cherries.

"Nearly all fresh fruit imports, apples included, are consumed as fresh
produce. The Taiwan consumer‟s emphasis on both convenience and
freshness is the key to channel fresh produce in the market. Currently,
traditional/neighborhood wet markets account for about 50% of all fresh
apple sales, followed by small fruit shops/street hawkers (34%), and
supermarkets/hypermarkets (16%).

"The apple symbolizes many positive things to the Taiwan consumers. Unless
bought solely for personal consumption, the color, size, and general
appearance of fruit is typically quite important to Taiwan retail customers.
The "best-looking" fruit, sold in gift packaging, fetches the highest
prices. The most expensive apples on the market, Japan-grown Fujis, sell
well at premiums of 100% because of their size and consumers‟ quality
perceptions


My comment:
(1) MY probably stands for "market year" while mt, "metric ton."
(2) Taiwan has produced fewer and fewer apples, with 4,163 mt of Fuji
variety in MY2008.
(3) Import (of apples) accounts for the rest (97%): the 2008 market share of
US (mainly from Washington state), Chile, Japan and New Zealand being 38,
28, 16 and 12%, respectively.
(4) I am for free trade. Due to political climate, neither Chen nor Ma
administration has allowed import of PRC produces, apples included.


---------------Separately
USA Snapshots is an illustration for interesting statistics that appears
in the lower left corner of the newspaper USA Today on Dec. 17, 2009. There
is no link to it. It was a bar chart:

"World's top apple growers (in billions of pounds)

China 58.8
US 9.8
Turkey 5.25
Poland 5
Italy 4.4

Source: US Apple Association

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