Taiwan's pomelo crop is smaller this season, which is bad for farmers' volume but good for their prices — a shortage should make the fruit easier to sell than usual.

• A drought during the flowering season in March meant fewer fruits set, cutting Hualien's harvest by 20–30%.
• Ruisui township, which grows a quarter of Taiwan's pomelos, has just started picking as the weather cleared after heavy rain.
• The shortage is nationwide — Tainan, the east coast, and Miaoli are all down — so oversupply, the usual problem, is gone this year.
• Export orders from Canada and Hong Kong are adding demand on top of that.
• Farmers say the rain did not hurt the fruit: this year's pomelos are juicy and sweet.

Outlook: Full-scale picking starts next week and everything must be sold in a three-week window before the Mid-Autumn Festival, when prices normally collapse.