Australian exporters will begin regular shipments of Bowen mangoes to mainland China for the first time from mid-October, reports abc.net.au.
The Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI) is understood to be working with exporters to meet Chinese quarantine protocols, which require 5,000 mangoes from each orchard to be cut and tested for seed weevil.
Jodie Campbell from the department told abc.net that the strict quarantines put exporting beyond the reach of most farmers, but that the DPI would lobby for changes next season.
'Instead of having to cut 5,000 mangoes per orchard, what we would like to do is see per shipment inspection, as we do for other countries like Japan and Korea, and that's 2 per cent of the actual shipment that goes there is normally cut and that usually works quite effectively in being able to reduce seed weevil,' she said.
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