Argentina's Ministry of Agro-industry, the National Health Service and Food Quality (Senasa), and the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), confirmed this week that both countries had reached an agreement regarding the terms of the phytosanitary protocol for the export of fresh table grapes of Argentina to the People's Republic of China. This is the first step in an ongoing process to open this market and expectations are there won't be grape exports to China this season, as both producers and the market need time to start exports effectively.
Guillermo del Carril, a representative of the DELCAVID table grape producing company, stated: "The signing of this agreement means the Chinese market is open for our exports of grapes. This is an opportunity to boost our production and exports of grapes. Traditionally, we shipped lots of fruit to Europe, but the economic crisis in this continent has forced us to find other markets with better returns, such as China."
It's worth recalling that this agreement is the first step in a process of agreements and negotiations that could still take time. "China is a very demanding market, so it has great opportunities. However, there was a lot of enthusiasm to enter into this market and we lost many vital details. Now, producers are concerned because the agreement states that Argentina will have to pay a 13% tariff to enter China. I fear this will thwart development, if we compare this percentage there are many other markets that require many extra costs," said Del Carril.
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