South Korea is poised to gain access to the Chinese market for table grapes and peppers during the next few years, according to a report from Korean news agency Yonhap.
The country's Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said that talks between the National Plant Quarantine Service and its Chinese counterpart last week had led to 'meaningful headway' which could eventually open the door to pepper exports next year and table grape shipments in 2011.
During the recent talks in Seoul, Chinese quarantine officials reportedly agreed to speed up their pest risk assessment (PRA) after examining what was described as rigorous quality and safety controls at South Korean production sites and processing facilities.
Over the past two years, South Korea has been calling on China to grant access not only for its grapes and peppers but also strawberries, persimmons, tomatoes and tangerines, but little progress had been made thus far due to existing PRA stipulations.
It is also understood that South Korea intends to offer Chinese lychee and squash producers access to its market, perhaps even as early as next year, in exchange for being allowed to ship peppers and grapes to China.
Yonhap added that the Korean government planned to provide information about the Chinese market to growers and trading companies.
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