According to the Colombian Agricultural Institute, ICA, two shipments of orange and one of clementines were shipped back to Spain and the United States, their countries of origin, after it was detected that they were infested with the California Red Scale (Aonidiella aurantii), a quarantine pest that is nonexistent in Colombia. Rafael San Miguel, deputy of border protection from the ICA, stated that, "the shipment, which were going to be marketed in the country, were intercepted at the ports of Cartagena and Buenaventura."
He added that said plague could cause great economic losses for Colombian producers. "This pest causes chlorosis, leaves and fruits drop, branches die, reduced yields and even causes the tree's death."
ICA experts consider that managing and controlling this pest is difficult and that the measures implemented to control it are very expensive. The shipment from Spain weighed 36 tonnes and that from the United States, 9.5 tons. The load was immediately returned to its country of origin.
Source: ICA