00:00Mangoes, the luscious taste of the Taiwanese summer, are back in season, and what a fine
00:05season it's turning out to be.
00:07Production is already up 30 percent from last year, when typhoon damage ruined the harvest.
00:12The agriculture ministry says this bumper crop is bringing prices down.
00:16And there's a chance of more to come if the weather stays good.
00:25Taiwan's mango season lasts until the end of August.
00:29For some mango farmers, though, the situation is still not quite ideal.
00:33Since the summer of 2023, China has banned the import of Taiwan mangoes, citing pests.
00:40Taiwan views the move as political.
00:42Whatever the case, exports have dropped from a peak of around 9,000 tons each year.
00:47Some farmers think one solution might be to focus on more than one variety of mango, the
00:52famous Irwin.
00:56But the government has ideas, too.
01:02On the shelves of Paris supermarkets, boxes of mangoes marked Produit de Taiwan, product
01:07of Taiwan, have started appearing.
01:09They offer a bit of cool refreshment amidst a major heat wave.
01:14The French market has its challenges.
01:16This export batch is relatively small.
01:19The government has had to help subsidize the cost of air freight.
01:22And even then, with a single mango costing around 28 euros, or 31 US dollars, it's not quite
01:29a budget-conscious option.
01:30Still, Taiwan's farmers are proud to see how far their mangoes have made it.
01:47Perhaps an even brighter spot is South Korea.
01:50Seoul has agreed to cut tariffs on Taiwan mangoes from 30 percent down to 5 percent until the
01:56middle of August.
01:57The government hopes its work to get results like this will see Taiwan export up to 3,000
02:02tons of mangoes this year.
02:03It's a third of what exports looked like before the Chinese ban, but still a juicy jump from
02:09last year.
02:10Eason Chen and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
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