Taiwan used its national day reception in Brussels to showcase its fruit, a small but effective win for Taiwanese farmers looking to grow sales in Europe.

• Taiwan's representative office to the EU and Belgium served pineapple, guava and dragon fruit at its September 30 reception in Brussels.
• The fruit became the main talking point of the evening, with trays emptied soon after guests arrived and staff refilling from backup stock.
• Taiwanese fruit has been getting more visible in Europe, with city and county officials running sales trips and some premium supermarkets now stocking it.
• European shoppers are willing to pay the high prices because the fruit tastes good, according to exporters working the market.
• Getting it there is the hard part: each fruit has its own ripeness and freshness needs, so picking, packing and shipping have to be managed item by item under EU import rules.

Outlook: Exporters want to build on the attention to open more European retail channels, something Taiwanese expats in Belgium say they would welcome too.