TAIPEI, Taiwan's Irwin mangoes sold out within two days of their June debut at Galeries Lafayette in Paris. Prices there ran up to €99.90 per kilogram (S$147), roughly six to seven times what Indian Alphonso mangoes fetch in the same market.
It also marks the fruit's first successful entry into the European Union.
Key Facts
- Irwin mangoes sold out in two days at €99.90/kg, nearly seven times pricier than Indian Alphonso.
- UK pre-orders for over 500kg sold out in a week.
- China took 59% of Taiwan's mango exports in 2019, before banning them in 2023 over pest claims.
By early July, buyers in France had bought more than four tonnes of the fruit at premium prices, according to The Straits Times.
At Maison LFL, a specialty shop in Paris's wealthy Neuilly-sur-Seine suburb, Irwin mangoes sold for around €60 per kg.
Natural House Group, the Taiwanese exporter behind the shipment, reported that interest outpaced supply this season.
"Taiwanese mangoes can easily win on flavour, which overcomes the high price," Carrie Wong, the company's executive vice-chair.
Parisians and Middle Eastern tourists were among the buyers, she added. The Irwin variety, known for its red skin and fibreless, sweet-tart flesh, originated by chance in 1930s Florida. It reached Taiwan in the 1950s.
Mangoes Also Sell Out in the UK
A separate shipment of about one tonne reached Britain in late June, the first time Taiwan had sent mangoes there.
At LingerMart, an Asian specialty grocer in London, pre-orders for more than 500kg sold out within a week. A 2.5kg box of seven to eight mangoes went for around £118. A 5kg box cost £193.
Founder Gili Lai recalled one customer driving more than an hour and a half from Cambridge to collect an order. Others with Taiwanese roots placed orders to cure homesickness, she noted. Lai said the fast UK sellout in such a strictly regulated market shows Taiwan's agricultural quality can translate into real soft power abroad.
Why Beijing Cut Off Taiwan's Mangoes
The European debut follows a setback three years ago.
In August 2023, China's customs authority suspended Taiwanese mango imports, citing mealybug detections in the fruit. Taipei's Ministry of Agriculture called the claim scientifically unsubstantiated. Officials in Taiwan linked the timing to political tension, coming soon after then Vice President William Lai Ching-te transited through the United States.
Beijing has repeatedly branded him, now Taiwan's president, a "troublemaker."
China had been Taiwan's single largest mango buyer, taking 59% of exports at its 2019 peak. By the time of the ban, China was importing only about 1,000 tonnes of Taiwan's mangoes a year.
Japan imported 700 tonnes that year, and South Korea took 600. Taiwan produced 174,000 tonnes of mangoes in 2023. Only 4,000 tonnes of that were exported at all (2.2% of the harvest), according to the Taipei Times.
The chart traces that same collapse. China went from 59% of Taiwan's mango exports in 2019 to roughly 1,000 tonnes in 2023. That's now close to what Japan and South Korea each import.
The mango ban was not an isolated case.
China blocked Taiwanese sugar apples, java apples and pineapples in 2021. It banned Taiwanese citrus a day after then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in August 2022.
Chen Ming-hsien heads the Jianxian Cooperative in Pingtung, which supplied mangoes for the Paris shipment. Chen recalled scrambling to sell a sudden surplus after the 2023 ban hit. He credited the repeated bans with pushing the sector toward more resilient, diversified sales channels.
Chen Junne-jih, then deputy minister, handled Beijing's mealybug complaint at the time. He is now the agriculture minister leading Taiwan's push into Europe.
Taiwan Bets on Premium Over Volume
Only about 1% of Taiwan's roughly 100,000-tonne annual mango crop is exported at all.
Growers have leaned into that scarcity rather than compete on volume. Japan is now the top buyer, importing US$3.62 million worth of Taiwanese mangoes in the first half of 2026, or 31.8% of total export value.
South Korea followed at US$2.67 million.
In July 2025, a single Irwin mango fetched a record 4,320 yen (S$35) at a Tokyo supermarket. Japan's own Miyazaki mangoes sell for even more, up to 11,000 yen.
Pingtung County magistrate Chou Chun-mi cited the French results, plus already-strong sales in South Korea, as proof growers no longer need China. Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih told reporters in June that Taipei wants the fruit eventually sold across all 27 EU member states.
He framed the strategy as building overseas demand through quality rather than volume.
