The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that Japan has granted market access for California plums. According to a press release from the California Fresh Fruit Association, “Eliminating the phytosanitary barriers keeping California plums out of the Japanese market required multiple rounds of technical negotiations that were somewhat hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The CFFA says the decision was made thanks to help from the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and Agricultural Research Service’s negotiators and experts, as well as the Fresno County and Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner offices.
The decision still calls for strict packing and fumigation protocols in place.
New opportunity
“Trade barriers threaten the health and viability of the industry,” said Ian LeMay, CFFA president. “This represents a significant opportunity for California plums, as Japanese consumers value premium fruit and recognize California fruit’s superior quality. As the global economy rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding market access will continue to be critical to the industry’s success.”
At Venida Packing in Exeter, CA, Chris Tantau notes that other stone fruit such as nectarines are already allowed in Japan and Venida ships other fruit to the country such as kiwis. “This is probably more about politics than profit,” says Tantau. “It’s a pretty small market currently and the protocols are that you still have to fumigate the fruit so it hasn’t been a popular program in the nectarines.”
Fumigation still needed
Tantau also adds that the decision likely means pallet quantities will be in order so he doesn’t see it translating into a large program. “It’ll be more burdensome because we’ll have to fumigate the fruit,” he says. “But you never know. The plum market is good and every opportunity like this to create a program is good. I just don’t know if it will translate into more market movement.”
The other issue could also be Japan’s domestic production. “I imagine the timing is similar to ours so the need for importing may not be great because we’re on a similar growing cycle,” Tantau says.
That said, countries in Asia have had good demand for California stone fruit this year. “But there’s a lack of equipment,” says Tantau. “We’ve had orders booked but can’t get containers to ship fruit to Hong Kong for example.”
For more information:
Ian LeMay
California Fresh Fruit Association
Tel: +1 (559) 226-6330
[email protected]
www.cafreshfruit.org
Chris Tantau
Venida Packing
Tel: +1 (559) 592-2816
[email protected]
www.venidapacking.com
