Select group of companies will ship the fruit to Ecuador for first time in 2026, after inspectors from the South American country completed a successful tour of orchards and packhouses
Italian pear exporters will send their fruit to Ecuador for the first time in 2026, after inspectors from the South American country completed a tour of orchards and packhouses.
The visit marked the final step in negotiations that began in 2021, since when officials have exchanged detailed information and defined various conditions for exports to begin.
“The aim of the final visit was to verify whether Italian companies were able to meet the conditions set by the Latin American country’s authorities,” explained Simona Rubbi, who as head of legislation and planning at trade group CSO Italy has overseen the project.
“We had prepared the visit well in advance with the technicians and managers of the organisations involved: OP Granfrutta Zani, Fruit Modena Group, Agrintesa, APO Conerpo, the Emilia-Romagna Regional Phytosanitary Service, and MASAF. And everything went smoothly.”
The two inspectors were able to observe the entire process of production, harvesting, grading and packing.
And according to Rubbi, they were impressed with the way Italy’s phytosanitary service interacted with exporters in following the proposed protocol.
“We went into every detail, from filling out field notebooks to maps of traps, from training to pest manuals,” said Rubbi, who noted that the inspection team said they had not previously seen such levels of preparation.
“And then in the packhouse, the storage rooms dedicated to pears destined for Ecuador, the processing, selection, and packaging phases, the labels, all the way to the loading ramps and the completion of phytosanitary certificates.”
During a subsequent meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ecuadoreans were apparently pleased to have witnessed an “excellent and transparent” implementation of protocol measures.
“Now that the visit is over,” Rubbi added, “all that remains is to consolidate the text of the protocol for signature by the two ministries involved. Once signed, the text will be published in the Official Gazette of Ecuador and will be operational.”
