Scott Lynch, executive director of the United States Apple Export Council:
EU entry for US apples challenging after European regulation change
“This season has been spent re-establishing relationships and preparing for the new MRL requirements,” Lynch told Freshplaza. “Europe is an important market for the USAEC and we are investing as an industry to ensure shipments will continue.”
“Our crop was impacted by weather the previous two years, leading to minimal exports to Europe, including our largest market, the UK. This year, the crop is very strong and we have good quality and sizes for the European market. However, the experience of the past two years meant that, to a certain extent, we had to re-introduce ourselves to the market this year and re-establish relationships. A lot of what we do for the apple export council is, to coin a phrase, ‘beat the drum’. We are constantly reminding people that we provide an opportunity for them. We have some varieties that are always appealing to the European market, particularly the UK,” he said.
Even though last year was very difficult, USAEC continued to communicate fully with its partners. “Even with the lack of fruit, we still talked to our key partners informing them of the crop shortage and making sure they know that we will be back next year,” said Lynch. “All of our partners, colleagues, shippers, importers or retailers are equally important. We have to work together. The retailers and their customers want our apples on the shelves.”
He explained that this is a tough industry, which can’t always be controlled by the people who are working in it. “In a way, we share the pain but we also share the good times. It is good to have strong relationships, where people understand the situation. We are here to help. “However, in a year when we have a great crop, obstacles like the DPA issue are impacting our ability to ship into Europe. Initially, the change in regulations was frustrating for our industry and implementation got pushed back a number of times. Now it is a reality that we have to accept it and decide how we are going to comply.
“Many of our companies have been investing in order to ship DPA free apples. The thinking was: I need to continue to supply these markets and I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen, so we built new facilities and modified others. We had until March 2, to get in before the new regulations were put into force, so a number of people have been shipping prior to that. Now we have to work within the parameters; we might not agree with them, but we have to work within them. Our partners worked really hard and invested a lot of time to make sure that there are still products available for this market.”
Lynch explained how growers are adjusting the changes. “There are two different ways to approach it, one is to build an entire new facility with entirely new equipment and some companies have several rooms, which they designate for the new regulations of DPA. All the shippers that are using the DPA free facilities are measuring their levels, before the apples go out, so they have been testing and doing monitoring at their end to make sure everything is all right. Shippers want to ensure the shipments are DPA free before they leave the facilities.”
USAEC is working very hard to make sure that the apples can make it into Europe. “Collaboration is very important with receivers, shippers and growers. People really want to work with the EU. It is a mature and important market where our fruit is in demand. Particularly with some of our varieties, which are very well received in the UK.”
It has been a learning process for everyone who has been involved. “No one had been there before,” said Lynch, quoting one of the USAEC’s bigger shippers, “There is no such thing as a normal year. In reality you have to invest constantly in your business. There could be any kind of challenges to face along the way. Last year had a financial impact on the business as well. So in terms of getting that money back it’s long term. We don’t know what is going to happen next year. If you are in this business, you have to prepare to continually invest, in time and money, we still have a long way to go.”
For more information:
Scott Lynch
USAEC
Tel: +1 202-367-1154
Fax: +1 202-367-2154
Email: Info@usaapples.com
www.usaapples.com