Vietnam has stopped issuing import permits for Australian fruit, meaning a ban looks likely from January next year, reports ABC Rural.
This development comes after Australian officials failed to allay on-going Vietnamese concerns about Australian management of fruit fly, the report said.
The Department of Agriculture told the broadcaster that Australian officials are currently in Vietnam trying to regain access as soon as possible.
Australian fruit and vegetable exports to Vietnam are worth around A$40m, said the report.
Chief executive of Australian Horticulture Exporters Michelle Christoe told ABC the Australian Department of Agriculture isn't doing enough to open up trade and a series of markets have been lost.
'What's making the situation worse is we've lost access to Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and now Vietnam,” she said.
Table grapes account for 82 per cent of Australian horticultural exports to Vietnam, so local growers are desperately hoping to maintain access.
Australian Table Grape Association chief executive Geoff Scott told ABC it's a major issue as growers approach their peak harvest time.
'It's frustrating, it's annoying and it's a very anxious time for growers,' Scott said.
'The Vietnamese market is worth over A$32m to the table grape industry so it's important that this gets resolved before our harvest season starts in the first week of January.'
If trade to Vietnam stops, Scott predicts a glut of grapes domestically in early 2015 which he says would cause “enormous heartache to our growers”.
Back in November, Australia’s department of agriculture assured the industry that Vietnam had not banned the country’s fresh produce, following weeks of widespread rumours that Vietnam had revoked market access for Australian fresh fruit and vegetables over fruit-fly concerns.
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