China to start importing pineapples from Malaysia soon

JOHOR BARU: Consumers in China will be able to taste fresh pineapples from Malaysia soon when the country starts importing the fruits, likely next month.

Malaysia Pineapple Industry Board director-general Sahdan Salim said both countries were currently finalising details on the quarantine procedures imposed by China authorities.

He said both countries had signed an agreement in 2013 in which China wanted Malaysia to send one hundred 40-ft containers of pineapples monthly.

Sahdan said the first shipment of the MD2 pineapples to China was scheduled for early 2015 but no approval has been given by the authorities there.

“China is expected to become our biggest importer of pineapple, taking over from Singapore and Middle East which are now our main export markets,’’ he told StarBiz.

Sahdan said the issue was similar to the ban imposed on Malaysia’s bird nest which was resolved in early 2014.

He said that currently, the country exported five 40-ft containers of pineapples monthly to Japan, Middle East and European countries.

Sahdan said the export to China in March would begin with three 40-ft container a month, each container with 20 tonnes of pineapples, and the number would increase to 20 containers monthly by 2018.

“Demand for fresh pineapples in the overseas market is good and we want more smallholders to focus on planting MD2 pineapple,’’ he added.