Korean Kyoho grapes were granted approval to ship to Australia yesterday, beginning this year.
The Korean ministry of agriculture, food and rural affairs said it had been requesting Australia to ease quarantine regulations since 2017 on the Kyoho variety.
Since 2012, Korea has shipped the Campbell Early type grape to Australia under accessible quarantine regulation and it can now send Kyoho grapes under the same protocol.
Grapes can be sent without following an additional decontamination process if the exporter can prove each farm carried out comprehensive food safety measures, said Yonhap News Agency.
The ministry said Seoul has been putting in an effort to strengthen the country’s high-end fruit and vegetable exports. Yesterday Korea’s finance minister also said the government would come up with measures next month to boost Korea’s overall exports.
There have been concerns that year-on-year export numbers (though mostly made up of automobile and tech) would contract in January due to uncertainty caused by slowing global growth and international trade frictions.
According to the Asiafruit Congress 2018 Statistics Handbook data, Korea exported US$144m and US$173m in fruit and vegetables respectively in 2017, totalling $317m in fresh produce exports.
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