Officials with the semi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said Saturday that the nine-member delegation will be headed by Fu Xiuquan, vice chairman of the China Fruits Marketing Association, and is composed of experts and officials from Liaoning, Hebei, Jiangsu and Guangxi provinces.

The China Fruits Marketing Association is the largest trade organization in China's fruit sector, with branches scattered throughout the country.

According to TAITRA officials, the purpose of the unprecedented fact-finding mission is to conduct a survey of Taiwan's fruit market ahead of the arrival of a procurement group slated to visit Taiwan in October.

The mission will tour fruit distribution facilities in Taipei City and Yilan County in northern Taiwan and Yunlin and Changhua counties in central Taiwan, they noted.

Although the TAITRA officials said it remains unclear how much the procurement group intends to buy, it will be primarily interested in fall and winter fruit, such as oranges, grapefruit, pineapples, and sugar apples.

According to TAITRA statistics, Taiwan exported US$2.32 million worth of fruit to China in the first five months of this year, already exceeding the value of fruit exports to China for all of 2008.

Taiwan's outbound shipments of fruit in 2008 reached US$18.48 million, up 15.4 percent over the previous year's level.