Ecuador sent its first shipment of fresh mango to China on Wednesday October 12, after the negotiations held between Ecuador's Agrocalidad, and its Chinese counterpart, the AQSIQ.
The phytosanitary certification of this shipment successfully completes the negotiations conducted over 13 years between the Ecuadorian and Chinese bodies in charge of phytosanitary control.
The negotiations included a meeting in China, in late 2015, where both institutions signed a protocol of phytosanitary conditions, which was verified on-site by a Chinese group of technicians that visited Ecuador in January 2016.
Duiring this visit, Ecuador demonstrated that, thanks to the work carried out by Agrocalidad, it complied with all the phytosanitary controls of pests demanded by the Chinese government and the expectations raised by the delegation.
Sergio Alfonso Cedeno, company representative for Pivano SA, the owner of the fruit exported, welcomed the opening of this market: "We have high hopes for the Chinese market. We expect to make future maritime shipments to this country. We currently don't do them as the trip lasts 30 days, but we might solve this problem with controlled atmosphere."
In turn, Mr. Oscar Orrantia, the general manager of Duraexporta, a company that packages fresh mango, stated that the most important aspect of the fruit was always its quality, which would allow them to further expand the markets that currently demand that the mango undergoes a hydrothermal treatment, i.e. the US, Mexico, Chile, New Zealand, and now China.
Rolando Davila, president of Picaler Mango Exporters, had a good opinion of this historic event because China might become the biggest market for mango. For this, he thanked Agrocalidad and the National Government.
"This is very favorable because it will give an economic boost to Ecuadorian exports to Asian markets," he said.
Finally, Engineer Wilson Wong, the district director of Agrocalidad in the province of Guayas, stated that they were currently working with Japan and Korea: "Regarding Japan, we are studying some of their requirements. Things are more advanced with Korea and it should be the next market we open for fresh mango."
All these efforts have allowed Ecuador and the productive sector to reach new markets, so that high-quality Ecuadorian products can be tasted worldwide.