Stone fruit in Taiwan shops

The first container of 20 tonnes of white flesh nectarines shipped from Australia in five years arrived at the port of Kaohsiung, where it was opened and passed inspection.

Summerfruit Australia chairman Ian McAlister, chief executive officer John Moore and Swan Hill grower Dom Cutri, who's also a member of the industry advisory committee, took part in a trade and media launch at the Austrade offices, where a box of the nectarines was sold for $3400 at a charity auction.

The launch received plenty of attention from Taiwanese media thanks to the presence of high-profile celebrity, Pei Zheng.

"We went and had a look at the (fruit) the next day at Costco and some of the leading supermarkets," Mr McAlister said.

"We went to the market and the fruit was spread all around the joint and it appeared to be selling well."

Mr Cutri, who supplied the 2028 10kg boxes under the luckifruit label, said he was really happy with the condition of the fruit after its voyage.

"Everything was perfect," he said.

There are thought to be another three shipments from other growers enroute to Taiwan, but Mr McAlister said damage from heavy rain to fruit in the major growing areas would make it hard to build sales momentum this season.

"The good news is that after five years of negotiations, we're finally back in Taiwan with a protocol that's workable," he said.

"It's taken a lot of effort by industry and government departments to get the protocol up and running. A lot of resources have been put into it.

"Now the market is there for next year ... if we are to rebuild the market to something like it was, we need to be able to have the fruit next year and the resources to promote it.

"From what I saw in the supermarkets, there's definitely a good market there for our fruit."

Taiwan blocked access to Australian stone fruit, cherries and pome fruit in early 2006, leading to a local oversupply and price slump.

At the time, more than half of Victoria's peaches and nectarines went to Taiwan.