Washington apples

Regulations could add costs to US apple exports

New import requirements to be implemented later this month will likely add costs to US exports there, a leading industry figure has reported.

Mark Powers of the Northwest Horticultural Council told US produce news site the Packer a new regulation slated to take effect on 28 September would require importers of horticultural products are registered and licensed, and would also impose new duties for exporters.

According to the Packer, Indonesia imported US$56m of US fruit, including US$41m in apples and US$10m in grapes during the first six months of the year.

Powers, who is the vice president of international trade and transportation for the council, said the rule stipulated produce feature labelling to show point of origin, volume, value and safety of packaging. Produce would also need to be inspected prior to shipping.

This would create logistical headaches for exporters, he added.

“Having a surveyor company checking off the thousands of containers that are going to be going out all wanting to be on the same vessel on the same shipping date loading out of a number of different packinghouses presents a significant problem and cost,” he said.

The industry had asked the US government to request Indonesia postpone or rescind the regulation.

“There have been a number of meetings on this issues between the US and Indonesian authorities but we have no resolution.”