It is very possible that China will ban the import of oranges from Taiwan after the recent ban on custard apples and wax apples. Beijing maintained that the ban on apples was announced due to mealybug infestations in shipments of apples on ‘multiple occasions’ this year. Taiwanese lawmakers deny this and are objecting the Chinese move, asking the country's authorities to take action against these decisions.
They believe that the government should prepare contingency plans for a possible Chinese ban on oranges. Lai Hui-yuan, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator from Taiwan, said that the Council of Agriculture and Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che must start planning a response to such a ban and not wait until after one has already happened, according to Taipei Times. Tainan region of Taiwan is the country's biggest orange-producing region, with 1,764 hectares in Dongshan, Baihe and Lioujia districts producing 60,000 tonnes of the fruit per year.
Lai believes that such actions by Beijing would further harm the country's growers as they are already suffering from water shortages this year. China accounts for 95 per cent of Tainan's orange exports or 0.5 per cent of the overall yield, Lai said.
Source: aninews.in