In March 2009, Taiwan completely suspended the import of Vietnamese dragon fruit over fear of being infected with melon fly disease. It was said the flies that eat guava could inhabit the fruit and enter Taiwan.
At that time, Vietnam exported around 15,000-16,000 tonnes of dragon fruits to Taiwan annually.mDragon fruit is favoured for exports thanks to its long preserving term (40 days) and low cost of transportation by sea route (0.2-0.3 USD per kilogramme).
Australia has officially commenced a review to import fresh dragon fruit from Vietnam into its market. According to a press release published by the Australian Embassy in Vietnam on April 27, fresh dragon fruit is one of the agricultural products given top priority to access Australia.
In the first six months of the year, Vietnam sold 4,610 tonnes of fruit in foreign markets, 72 percent of which was dragon fruit. Vietnam exported over one million tonnes of dragon fruit in 2015. The news was welcomed by dragon fruit growers and exporters as Taiwan is a promising market for the fruit. The PPD is working with authorized bodies to complete procedures for exporting the fruit.
Previously, Vietnam exported about 10,000 tonnes of dragon fruit to Taiwan per year, however from 2009 exports halted, due to Vietnam suffering from an epidemic of fruit flies along with Thailand, the Philippines, India, China, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
