I am fond of eating pineapples. Recently we see a lot of Taiwanese pineapples in stores. This is due to China’s sudden ban on Taiwan’s pineapples. The Chinese government abruptly banned imports of Taiwanese pineapples on March 1, citing ‘harmful creatures’ could come with the fruits, and baffled the Taiwanese farmers in the southern region of Taiwan who had built a thriving business by exporting their pineapples to China. The Japanese market immediately responded to Taiwan’s request, and increased its imports of Taiwanese pineapples on a large scale. Under such situation, one of my friends visited my office carrying some Taiwanese pineapples with him. He wanted to support the pineapple farmers of Taiwan, and asked me if I could introduce to him some people who might be interested in buying those pineapples. Thus, I introduced some of my friends and colleagues in the Diet to him.
This incident tells us that if the export of an agricultural crop is concentrated in a specific area, the exporters will be in trouble when the unexpected happens. The risk should always be dispersed. That being said, I would like to note that in fact, there were so many people who were keen to help the pineapple farmers in Taiwan.
