The USDA took another step towards allowing the import of lemons from northern Argentina.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service released a draft of the risk assessment of the pesticides in Argentine limes.
The USDA and Argentina's SENASA asserted that there had been progress made in the negotiations to reopen the U.S. market to the shipments of lemons from Tucuman, the leading region in the world in that production.
The U.S. market has been closed to Argentina's citrus production since 2001.
Argentina denounced on several occasions that it was a protectionist measure, which now could be reversed.
The United States justified the measure by saying that their intention was to protect plant health, as they were suspicious that the Argentine limes could be transmitters of bacteria. Argentina was able to export limes to the United States until 2000, when a presentation made by the producers from California, who claimed there were doubts about Argentina's plant safety, provoked the suspension of imports.
Source: Ambito Financiero