The citrus industry in the Argentine province of Tucumán plans to lobby for lower quarantine requirements in China, website Lagaceta.com.ar reported.

The Tucumán Citrus Association (ATC) and the provincial government have met to develop a working agenda, in a bid to persuade China to loosen its temperature quarantine policies for lemon market access, the story reported.

Chinese regulations currently demand the fruit be shipped at 2ºC (45.6ºF), which Argentine exporters say produces damages in lemons.

"The issue is that the transit of sweet citrus at low temperatures doesn't damage the fruit, but it does affect lemons a lot, which would arrive at the destination with a large part of the cargo in a bad state,"  ATC president Roberto Sánchez Loria was quoted as saying.

"Export is discouraged under these conditions."

Provincial Minister of Productive Development Jorge Gassenbauer plans to travel to China this month with a committee led by Federal Agriculture Minister Julián Domínguez.

Gassenbauer says Japan has the same policy towards temperatures in its quarantine procedures, unlike the U.S. which has accepted the region's fruit fly-free status.

Argentina's Agricultural Attaché to China Omar Odarda plans to visit Tucumán in September to visit the province's lemon farms, the story reported.

Photo: Yaotiao

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