TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — “Champion pomelos” were highlighted at a press event in Tainan on Wednesday (Aug. 30) as the city has gone into overdrive promoting the sale of the China-banned fruit.

Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) announced the annual festival celebrating pomelos grown in Madou will kick off on Monday (Sep. 3) right before the Moon Festival, which falls on Sep. 10. A source of pride for the city, Madou is known for its highly-prized pomelos, or “wendan” in Mandarin.

Huang said that abundant rainfall before harvesting this year rendered the citrus fruit from Madou juicier and gave it a finer texture. People will almost certainly become loyal customers of Madou pomelos after tasting them, said Huang proudly.

Businesses in Taiwan have been quick to prop up pomelo farmers stunned by the sudden ban of the fruit by Beijing earlier this month. Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said last week that industrial customers had ordered 130,000 boxes of pomelos, each weighing 6 kilograms, with the council setting a sales target of 200,000 boxes.

Five hundred tons of fresh Taiwanese pomelos have been shipped internationally and 2,500 tons of the fruit have been transformed into processed, value-added products, for example, essential oils.

Meanwhile, Japan resumed the introduction of pomelos from Taiwan in 2020 after a two-decade hiatus due to strict transportation requirements and inspection rules. Taiwan exported 13 tons and 46 tons of the fruit to Japan in 2020 and 2021, respectively, and has received orders of 66 tons so far this year, wrote CNA.