USDA allows Chinese apple imports - FreshFruitPortal.com

USDA allows Chinese apple imports

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USDA allows Chinese apple imports

Just a few months after Chinese authorities announced their market was open for all U.S. apple varieties, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has reciprocated but doesn't expect much in the way of volumes. apples panorama

The final rule was published today to allow the fruit into the continental United States, in what the department described as the culmination of decades of hard work.

The decision was based on a plant risk analysis completed by the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in 2013, and will include a systems approach involving bgging, safeguarding and labeling for all apples produced in Oriental fruit fly-free areas.

For Chinese apples grown in areas known to have the pest, which applies to any geographic area south of the 33rd parallel, the fruit will also need to be treated with fumigation and refrigeration.

In the publication, the USDA said it was reasonable to expect prices for Chinese apples in the U.S. would be reasonable to the prices they fetched in Canada and Mexico, which in 2012 were US$1.50/kg and US$1.55/kg respectively.

"Considering the current availability of relatively low-priced imported apples in the United States and the wide range of domestic varieties, apples imported from China are not likely to compete solely on price in the U.S. market," the USDA said.

"Based on historic data of Chinaā€™s apple production, consumption, export volumes, and prices, we expect no more than 10,000 MT of fresh apples will be imported from China into the continental United States annually, which represents less than 0.44 percent of the U.S. domestic fresh apple supply and less than 5 percent of U.S. imports in 2012.

"Most of Chinaā€™s fresh apple exports to the United States will likely be shipped to West Coast ports, primarily ones in California, and are expected to be distributed through Asian ethnic supermarkets mainly to Asian communities."

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