Indian grape exporters are heaving a sigh of relief as the European Union (EU) has agreed to retain the residue levels of chlormequat chloride (CCL), a plant growth regulator at 0.05 ppm (papers per million), for a period of two years. In August this year, the EU had proposed changing the pesticide residue levels in grapes to 0.01 ppm causing unrest among Indian exporters.
According to Jagannath Khapre, president, All India Grape Exporters Association, both the exporters association and the Maharashtra State Grape Growers Association followed up the issue with APEDA on a regular basis and APEDA took up the issue with the Union commerce ministry.
The commerce ministry took serious note of the issue and succeeded in convincing EU authorities to retain the CCL levels, Khapre said.
Top officials of the Maximum Residue Level (MRL) Committee met in Pune, along with senior officials of the commerce department, APEDA at the National Research Centre for Grapes, in August this year and then decided to approach the EU to file a statement on behalf of Indian exporters.
Subhash Arve, president, Maharashtra Grape Growers Association, said that the EU has agreed to retain the levels for a period of two years and the attempt from India would be to retain these CCL levels for a period of at least 5 years.
Since the European Union requires documentation, the Indian side submitted relevant documents before the authorities, to seek a status quo on the existing levels, he said.
