Taiwan pineapple is now a welcome commodity on the world market and many foreign producers, including the Hawaiians who supply most of this product to the world, are beginning to cast suspicious eyes on Taiwan as a new but potential competitor. All this growth has been achieved within less than ten years, due mostly to the drive and efforts made by the biggest Taiwan producer, the Taiwan Pineapple Corporation.
Pineapple is known to have been grown on the island as early as the middle of the 17th century, but pineapple-canning became an industry only in 1902, when a processing plant was established at Fengshan by a Japanese industrialist.
During the Japanese occupation of this island, the industry became the third biggest pineapple producer of the world, turning out as much as 1,600,000 cases a year for the three record years 1938 to 1940. But the exports were destined mostly for Japan and the so-called Manchukuo in north-eastern China, and Taiwan's product was quite unknown on the world market.
During World War II most of the pineapple plantations were turned to cultivation of grains and many of the canning factories were demolished by air raids. Following the end of the War, the enterprise was rehabilitated as a government business but production did not pick up actively until 1950. After the enterprise was sold to private interests in 1955, its development became really spectacular.
A group of financers then took over the enterprise, reorganized it into a corporation, retaining its original name and the services of the same general manager. Through a series of brisk reforms and energetic improvements in organization, factory equipment, production techniques, plantation management and sales promotion, its product under the brand name of "Typhone", quickly became a popular item on the world market. In 1956 more than one million cases were exported to foreign countries, thus elevating pineapple export to the third place on the list of staple exports from Taiwan that year.
The prosperity, however, was ephemeral. The stimulation of foreign demand soon caused a mushroom growth of new competitors, who blindly established factories without careful consideration of the availability of the raw fruit supply. The competition for fresh pineapples became so keen that some producers had to use green and inferior quality fruits for canning with the inevitable result of damaging the reputation of the Taiwan product as a whole on the world market. Confronted by the threat of losing its foreign market, the Taiwan Pineapple Corporation took immediate steps to persuade its competitors to keep their product up to standard quality by using only good quality fruit, and asked the government to standardize the industry as a whole.
Harvested pineapples being shipped to cannery (File photo)
In 1951 a government order was implemented whereby pineapple canneries which failed to meet certain standards were not allowed to export their products. This reduced the number of exporting canneries from more than 60 to 22 (of which six belong to Taiwan Pineapple Corporation) and the products of the unqualified canneries were restricted to domestic consumption. In 1958 the government supplemented the order by ruling that any new cannery wishing to export must operate and maintain a plantation of not less than 100 hectares (247 acres) capable of supplying at least 30 percent of its raw fruit requirement, with the additional 40 percent provided by contract fruit-growers. These regulations, supplemented by other enforcement measures such as the allocation of raw fruits, registration of foreign sales records, test of products, investigation of management, extension of export loans, etc., soon reestablished the reputation of the Taiwan product.
Export has since steadily increased until a total of 1,680,000 cases were exported in 1959, this surpassing the peak production during the Japanese rule.
Taiwan's flourishing pineapple export trade is the success story of the Taiwan Pineapple Corporation. It is a typical case of what free enterprise can do for both the benefit of itself and the development of the nation's economy.
Taiwan Pineapple Corporation has now six processing factories located at Changhua, Yuanlin, Erhshui, Nantou, Tainan, and Fengshan. After its reorganization into a private enterprise in 1955, renovation of factory equipment was undertaken on a large scale until all six factories were equipped with 30 production lines, each pair provided with four sets of peeling machines, two sets each of cutting and slicing machines, one set each of sealing, cleaning and refrigerating machines. The production capability is now more than one million cases during the production season of about 120 to 160 days each year. Each factory is also equipped with the most modern machinery to press juice from the residue and this by-product is becoming increasingly important and popular.
The Corporation not only manufactures its own containers but fulfills more than 80 percent of the canned food containers demanded by other manufacturers. The can factory is located at Kaohsiung and is now equipped with four sets of automatic can-manufacturing machines.
The Corporation owns four plantations for growing pineapples, located at Pingtung, Tainan and Chiayi. The total cultivated area is about 2,380 hectares (5,880 acres). One plantation alone (at Pingtung) occupies 1,071 hectares (2,646 acres). All plantations are provided with the most modern equipment such as electric tractors, sprayers, etc.
The Corporation has many accessory establishments spread over the island for experimentation, research, storage, and distribution. These include experimental farms, seedlings nurseries, experimental centers for processing food and for improvement of by-products, etc.
One of the up-to-date canning machines at TPC's Kaohisung Cannery (File photo)
The Experiment Centre was established in 1957. Its chief work is to do research for improvement of all kinds of processed by-products. The Agricultural Department in Central Taiwan was established to provide better seedlings for the contract growers, to purchase their produce and to manage seedling and sprout nurseries. The Supplies and Storage Department looks after the storage and distribution of products and supplies. Each establishment is assigned with independent duties but all cooperate smoothly under centralized direction.
The Corporation is a big employer of skilled as well as unskilled labor. During harvest time, it often has more than 10,000 persons on its payroll. The latest statistics show 126 technicians, 114 office staff, 340 skilled laborers, 85 unskilled laborers, 800-6,000 temporary factory hands and 1,000-3,000 temporary farm hands employed In addition, if the number of contract growers, their families, and others connected directly or indirectly with the transportation and other business of the Corporation are included, the total number of people who depend on the Corporation for livelihood is well over 100,000.
At present the Corporation raises only about 30 percent of its raw fruit, the rest being supplied by its contract growers. In order to enlarge the total supply, as well as to increase the ratio of self-supply, it has made great efforts to improve farming techniques by more careful selection and nursing of seedlings, by effective use of new chemicals for pest control, by application of new fertilizers, and by better field cooperation with contract growers, etc.
There are many kinds of pineapple seedlings used by growers in Taiwan, but the kind most suited for processing is the smooth cayenne variety. Since 1950, the industry has cooperated with the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction to cultivate and select this species. This work has been undertaken by the Corporation alone since 1957, and it is expected that by 1961 this type of seedling will be generally supplied to all pineapple growers in Taiwan and more unified production of raw fruits will be available for all canneries.
In the control and prevention of pest, the Corporation, in cooperation with JCRR, has successfully discovered an effective method unknown to the Japanese. They use insecticide folidol to spray the sprouts before planting and another chemical, aldrin, to kill ants.
In regard to the use of fertilizers, during the period of the Japanese occupation, only the common sulphate of ammonia was used. The tests made by the Corporation proved the importance of potassium in fertilizers, not only for improving the quality of the raw fruits but also for increasing the per hectare produce.
In processing the products, the slogans of the management are "quality" and "hygiene." At each process of production, a strict inspection and test system has been established to assure that the international standard is attained. Today its product is admitted into foreign countries as equal to the Hawaiian product. The main export is canned sliced pineapples, which is not only more economical in production but also considered a superior product on the foreign market and therefore sold at better prices. The Corporation also produces many by-products such as pineapple juice and juices of tomato, orange, lung-yen, li-chee and plum. It produces canned beans, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, etc. which all command a good market, and make the industry less seasonal.
Nearly 99 percent of the products are exported abroad. Before reorganization, the exports were destined mostly for Japan and England, but now the foreign market has been extended to USA, Canada, West Germany and other European countries. The European market is especially notable. According to 1959 statistics the export to West Germany alone amounted to NT$105.6 million as compared with NT$82 million for Japan and NT$17.6 million for USA, out of a total of NT$283.6 million.
The Corporation, however, faces several problems. On the international scene, its products have to compete in Japan with the products of the Ryukyu Islands, which enjoy favorable import treatment from the Japanese government; and in USA, with Hawaiian producers who have beaten a sales track there for many years already. Domestically, new pineapple-canneries have grown up in Eastern Taiwan, and their exports have reduced the Corporation's export from 80 to 40 percent of the total export. Nevertheless, the Corporation remains the leader of this industry, whose products enjoy an established reputation abroad and whose management and production techniques can serve as a model for all other factories. The contributions made by the Corporation toward this industry can best be illustrated by the following comparative statistics: