Macao has stopped importing Taiwanese pineapples, dealing a further blow to the island’s farmers after mainland China had banned the fruit’s shipments earlier this week, a Hong Kong news outlet has reported.

Taiwanese farmers had been exporting more than 90% of their pineapples to mainland China before Beijing halted imports on Monday, citing “harmful pests” found in pineapples from across the strait.

Macao followed suit a day after, according to Hong Kong-based news outlet China Review News Agency, who quoted the director of Chen Nong Farm in Taiwan that supplies homegrown pineapples.

A fruit vendor in Taiwan who sells pineapples directly to Hong Kong and Macao confirmed to Apple Daily that they were no longer able to ship them to Macao this week, although they were still able to do so a few weeks earlier.

Macao fruit stalls said they were following orders according to “official documents” from mainland China, the Taiwanese vendor said.

“It’s strange that Macao’s administrative units also go according to mainland Chinese official documents,” the vendor said. Macao, like Hong Kong, is a special administrative region of China that has separate governing and economic systems from across the border.

Hong Kong has continued to import Taiwanese pineapples as of Saturday, according to Taiwan and Hong Kong vendors.

A fruit stall owner in Hong Kong, surnamed Leung, told Apple Daily that he had received a call from a buyer in Macao recently asking if he could supply them with Taiwanese pineapples. He guessed that the call was related to Macao’s recent ban. When asked if he was worried that Hong Kong would also pull the plug on imports, he said there was “no way of predicting the future” and that he could just take it “one step at a time.”

Another Hong Kong fruit stall owner, who gave her name as Elmo, said she was not worried about any impending ban yet, adding that the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department would not likely cease imports for no reason.

Taiwanese pineapples were selling for HK$38 (US$4.9) apiece at an HKTVMall branch in Tiu Keng Leng on Saturday.

In the wake of the ban, Taiwan has ramped up promotional efforts to support the island’s farmers struggling from the fallout, hoping to boost local sales of the fruit. Wholesale prices in Taipei as a result surged 43.7% compared to last week, selling for NT$35.6 (US$1.27) per kilogram. Wholesale volume also rose 45.4% to reach 29.7 tonnes.

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