The California citrus industry received an early Christmas present this week when the USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that China granted market access for their fruit for the first time in 15 months.
Technically, shipments can commence immediately but it is expected that the industry will chose to wait until late in the calendar year when the first navel oranges reach maturity.
The new protocols address Chinese quarantine officials' concern over phytophthora root rot that was discovered in California navel shipments in early 2013. A recent visit by Chinese agricultural inspectors evidently served to convince that what the California industry was proposing to mitigate incidence of phytophthora was sufficient.
'The protocol basically coincides with our programme with South Korea for Fuller rose beetle,' Tom Wollenman of LoBue Brothers Citrus told Asiafruit. 'It's a nice surprise (to be announced) this early. I really didn't expect anything until around November.'
Ironically, there could be a shortage of California navels to ship not only China but other Asia-Pacific markets thanks to the state's on-going drought. Wollenman believes California will have a decent sized crop to ship to both domestic and international markets during 2014/15. However, if the drought doesn't break this winter, all bets are off as to fruit availability next year.
'We're probably going to sneak by as an industry this season but if we have another dry winter like last year, you'll likely see a dramatic reduction in acreage across the board,' said Wollenman. 'Already growers are pushing out marginal acreage rather than purchase high-priced water for irrigation.'
Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual, praised USDA/APHIS for its efforts to negotiate a mutually satisfactory goal. 'Obviously industry members urged a strong response after the apparent agreement last November fell through but actually USDA and the APHIS team needed little nudging,” he said. “They recognised the importance of the market and they were steadfast in support of our industry.'
According to California Citrus Mutual, the Chinese market is one of the industry's largest export markets, with annual shipments in the order of 4-5m cartons, and the trade is growing.
“Korea and Canada continue to lead in terms of cartons received, but China is gaining on both as an export destination,” said the Citrus Mutual in a press release. “The primary varieties shipped are navel oranges, lemons and Valencia oranges”
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