TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Mangoes grown in Taiwan’s Tainan City this year might be smaller in size due to the drought, but they taste better than in past years, CNA reported, citing Tainan City’s Agriculture Bureau. 

Bureau Director Hsieh Yao-ching (謝耀清) said on Sunday (June 20) that the area of land growing mangoes this year is 6,954 hectares, with an estimated annual output of 91,660 tons, an increase of 20 percent from last year. Most of the growing areas are located in the city’s Nanxi, Yujing, Nanhua, Guantian, and Danei districts. 

Tainan mangoes will soon enter their peak season. As a result of the drought, the percentage of small mangoes is higher than in past years, but farmers said they taste better than ever, per CNA. 

Bureau officials told CNA that the exporting of this year’s Tainan mangoes has begun, with most shipments going to countries like Japan and South Korea, while the year's export volume was likely to be 5,000 tons. 

Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said this year’s mango festival was canceled and Jujing’s fruit market has taken measures to control the crowd size due to the Level 3 pandemic alert. However, the city government has assisted in internet marketing to allow people who like Tainan mangoes to be able to purchase the fruit from home.