TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Frozen Taiwan-grown pineapple sugar apples, or atemoyas, arrived in Singapore on Monday (April 18) for the first time as the country ramps up efforts to find other markets for the fruit in response to a Chinese ban.
The atemoyas will be available at a local supermarket, which has procured five tons of the fruit from Taiwan. Fresh sugar apples and pastry products using the fruit will also hit the market in the Southeast Asian country starting next week, according to Taiwan Trade Center in Singapore.
Frozen atemoyas taste like ice cream, adding to its appeal as a dessert and allowing it to make inroads into overseas markets, said Taiwan’s Representative to Singapore Liang Kuo-hsin (梁國新). Technologies have been employed to help boost the exports of the fruit, including off-season production techniques, he added.
Taiwan has made every effort to divert its exports of sugar apples from China after it arbitrarily imposed a ban in September last year claiming pest concerns. The fruits have been redirected to Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asian nations, with Japan placing large orders in support of Taiwan.
The first shipment of Taiwanese frozen atemoyas reached Japan in March, sold frozen, sliced, and in small packs. BELX, a Japanese supermarket chain, has installed freezers at Tokyo outlets specifically for the products, kept at a temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius.
The freezers have helped drive up sales of the Taiwanese fruit, and it appears to have been well-received among customers, per CNA.
Freezer set up in a Japanese supermarket for Taiwanese atemoyas. (CNA photo)
A kid in Tokyo samples a slice of Taiwanese atemoyas. (CNA photo)
