Ariane big

It's a landmark decision, without doubt, but the US's move to lift the 10-year-long ban on topfruit imports from France has been met with strangely muted excitement in the Hexagon.

Perhaps that's a measure of the injustice felt by French exporters, who have long had to compete with their US counterparts on the European market and have merely demanded one thing: reciprocity.

Finally, following bilateral negotiations on phytosanitary controls that were initiated by Coopérative des Vergers d'Anjou and Bureau du Val de Loire (BVL) back in the 2000s, something approaching reciprocity has been achieved.

Exporter Blue Whale, which BVL joined at the end of 2014, was the first to take up the challenge. However, the company's Marc Peyres told Eurofruit that it planned to take things slowly, particularly in terms of volumes and promotions.

'We have sent just 12 containers to start with, so we will see how these fare,' he said. 'We chose very French varieties - Ariane and Tentation for apples, and Angélys for pears - to avoid competing with US varieties. It is still a little early to promote. We decided not to communicate too much for the time being. The important thing for now is to remember that we have followed the protocols, we have been allowed to export and deliveries have been made.'

However, Peyres suggested that the US's stringent demands, including pre- and post-harvest checks, as well as cold treatment during transit, would have to be simplified in the future. 'The procedures are still far too complex,' he said.