FRESH pears from Taiwan will soon be available on the Chinese mainland as the government opened the market yesterday.

The approval makes Taiwan pears the 23rd fruit variety admitted to the mainland, Yang Yi, a spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a press conference yesterday.

The mainland opened its market more widely to Taiwan fruits in 2005 by increasing the types of approved fruits from 12 to 18 and categorizing more than 10 types as duty free. In May 2006, four more types of Taiwan fruits were approved for export to the mainland.

Pineapple, banana, papaya, guava and wax apple are among the most popular Taiwan fruits on the mainland.

The spokesman said the cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement signed last year has cut trade tariffs for both sides and boosted the economies.

Thanks to an "early harvest program" of the ECFA, which took effect in January, exports worth US$3.45 billion from Taiwan to the mainland enjoyed a tariff cut of US$102 million in the first 11 months, Yang said.