A total of 3,088 tons of duty-free fresh fruit from Taiwan was shipped to the Chinese mainland in 2006, the General Customs Administration said on Sunday.

The 3.79 million U.S. dollars worth of Taiwan fruit were exempt from tariffs valued at 5.01 million yuan (635,787 U.S. dollars), the sources added.

The Chinese mainland began to scrap import duties on 15 varieties of fresh fruit on August 1, 2005. By the end of 2006, the shipment of tariff-free Taiwanese fruit amounted to 4,247 tons, 5.35 million U.S. dollars worth, which were exempt from taxes valued at 6.81 million yuan (864,213 U.S. dollars).

Customs houses on the mainland have opened special channels for Taiwanese fruit to cut down a lengthy declaration process in order to keep the fruit fresh.

Source: Xinhua