Taiwan's premium mangoes wing their way to Europe for the first time

By Ann Wang

TAICHUNG/TAITUNG, Taiwan, July 15 (Reuters) - Plump, juicy and fragrant, Taiwanese mangoes have long been a top draw for foodies, but traditionally those wanting to experience them have generally had to travel to the island.

Starting this year, however, the yellow and orange-coloured fruit will make its way to Europe, shipping first to France and Britain.

Europe normally imports its mangoes from countries such as India and Pakistan, but David Chen, CEO of fruit export company Natural House Taiwan, said Taiwan's mangoes can easily win on flavour, which helps overcome their premium price.

Exporting mangoes "has really become extremely, extremely expensive," he told Reuters at a fruit packing facility in the central city of Taichung. "It turned out that even though the price was so high this year, people still bought them."

Taiwan may be better known for its dominance in making the advanced semiconductors used in applications as varied as smartphones and AI, but arguably it was agriculture that first made the island famous.

During the 1895-1945 Japanese colonial era, Taiwan exported produce including pineapples and bananas.

While mangoes have long been grown in Taiwan, it was not until the 1960s that the much sweeter, U.S.-imported Irwin variety was introduced. Today, this is the variety for which the island is perhaps most renowned.

Taiwan produced more than 100,000 metric tons of mangoes last year, but exported only a tiny percentage, mostly to Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

You Tsang-fu has been growing hybrid Summer Snow mangoes for the last 15 years in the eastern county of Taitung.

This year he sent to Europe what he called a trial shipment of five boxes, all of which had to comply with EU rules regarding, for instance, pesticide residue.

"In terms of fruit selection, and also in terms of field management, the EU is stricter than for the domestic market," he said.

The government has encouraged fruit farmers to expand export markets given political friction with China, which views the democratically governed island as its own territory.

President Lai Ching-te last month said China had "weaponised" fruit through import bans, which have targeted pineapples, custard apples and wax apples, as well as mangoes. China said such bans are for phytosanitary reasons.

You said he was confident Europeans would love Taiwan's mangoes.

"The best mangoes in Taiwan are Snow Mangoes. Snow Mangoes are the Louis Vuitton of the mango world," You said.

(Reporting by Ann Wang; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christopher Cushing)