Profits are high, and it is said in a good year one hectare of wax apples can earn NT $ 2 million (US $ 50,000). Ch'aochou is the center of agricultural commerce in P'ingtung County, a position aided immeasurably by the construction of a standard narrow gauge railroad from the town to Kaohsiung in 1920.
蓮霧的獲利相當高，鎮公所農業課技士李財表示，收成好的時候，一公頃的蓮霧可賣到二百萬元。「潮州也是屏東縣主要的農產集散地」，鎮公所秘書陳育裕說：「標準窄軌鐵路在民國九年，就由高雄延伸而來。」