Hong Kong foodies showed support for pineapples imported from Taiwan following a ban from mainland China, with one vendor selling out 600 cartons of pineapples within five hours.

“People are sympathetic toward Taiwan because of the pineapple ban. They are keen to support Taiwan,” said Leung Tung-ki of Bros Fruit. Leung ordered 600 cartons of Taiwanese pineapples, which arrived on Sunday morning.

Leung placed the order following the mainland’s announcement on Feb. 26 of a ban on Taiwan-grown pineapples. The ban came into effect on March 1. Macao followed Beijing’s decision and stopped importing pineapples from Taiwan on March 2. Leung took pre-orders from customers and sold out the entire stock of pineapples within five hours.

Lam Kee Fruit in Wong Tai Sin also placed orders for Taiwanese pineapples following the ban. More than 200 cartons of the fruit sold out within three days, according to Mr. Lam, who manages the shop.

Taiwanese pineapples are tasty, and the ban obviously had nothing to do with the fruit’s quality, said Lam. “People questioned why this [the ban] was in place, and they wanted to demonstrate their support,” he said.

April is the main harvest period for pineapples in Taiwan, and while the quality of pineapples available now was good, those harvested in April will taste even better, Lam said. The volume of pineapples arriving from Taiwan to Hong Kong in April will be even larger, and prices were expected to drop to HK$20-HK$25 (US$2.58-US$3.22).

Two more containers of Taiwanese pineapples were expected to arrive in Hong Kong in the coming few days, sources told Apple Daily.

Consumers of Taiwanese pineapples said they liked the quality of the fruit from the island and also wanted to demonstrate support for Taiwan through their purchases. Mr. Sze, who collected his order from Bros Fruit earlier, said he will use the fruit to make pineapple cakes. He also said the ban was ridiculous and that innocent farmers should not become targets of political debates.

Ms. Chan, who ordered a box of Taiwanese pineapples, said she could not consume all the fruit herself but would share them with friends as a way to show support for Taiwan.

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