Italian kiwifruit in Asia

Italian kiwifruit exporters are free to ship the fruit directly to China following the announcement that a protocol signed recently by the two countries' governments has been officially ratified.

The news represents a major breakthrough not only for Italy but for the entire European fresh produce trade, raising the possibility that current restrictions on other products such as apples, citrus and stonefruit could be lifted.

A spokesperson for Italian agricultural organisation Coldiretti commented: 'This also opens the way for other fresh fruits and vegetables currently blocked by the presumed danger of spreading dangerous insects like Mediterranean fruit fly.'

Achieving a similar breakthrough for apples would be a monumental development for the global apple trade. 'Apples are the Chinese' favourite fruit and total consumption across China is set to reach 25m tonnes shortly, 12 times the size of the Italian crop,' the spokesperson said.

Kiwifruit is the first mainstream product within the European fresh produce sector to be granted access by the Chinese authorities. For years, Europe has faced a number of prohibitive phytosanitary restrictions that have prevented its fruit exports from reaching the Asian market.

But a series of recent meetings between the Chinese authorities and government officials in European countries has seen a great deal of progress made on lifting export barriers. France is also poised to gain access to China for its kiwifruit exports.

As Eurofruit Magazine revealed back in November last year, a protocol for exporting Italian and French kiwifruit was approved in the autumn of 2008 following a series of visits made by Chinese inspectors to packhouses in the two countries.

China is reportedly asking exporters to employ a cold treatment system similar to the one used for consignments to New Zealand.

Italian exporters say they expect to be able to deliver kiwifruit to the Chinese market in time for Chinese New Year at the end of January – an important selling period for the country's marketers and retailers.

Speaking in Rome, Italy's Minister of Agriculture Luca Zaia said the agreement, which opens the door to Italian kiwifruit from a number of approved export companies, represented a major step forward for the country's fresh produce trade.

'After ten years of hard diplomacy and technical work on the part of the ministry, we've achieved a great result for our country's quality production,' commented Mr Zaia. 'With the opening of the Chinese market to Italian kiwifruit, there will be a number of new and important opportunities to develop the Italian fresh produce sector.'

Turning out around 500,000 tonnes every year, Italy is the world's largest producer of kiwifruit and exports more than 80 per cent of its crop to over 80 countries worldwide.