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Ban on US apple imports lifted

"We will maintain strict checks on apples imported from the US, and will impose another ban if any apple worms or larva-ridden apple are found in the future."

Yeh Ying,deputy director-general of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine

A four-month import ban on US apples was lifted yesterday after several field investigations showed that inspections in the US had been improved to meet Taiwan's agricultural safety demands, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.

The council's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine banned the imports of US apples on Dec. 21 after inspectors discovered an apple worm, also known as codling moth larva, in a shipment from Oregon.

Codling moths had been also detected in two earlier shipments from Washington and California last year. The worms damage not only apples but also other fruits such as pears, peaches and plums.

In November 2002, codling moths were also found in US apples. At that time, imports were suspended for more than a month.

Yeh Ying (葉瑩), the bureau's deputy director-general, said the US filed several investigative reports this year and both sides had engaged several discussions on the reopen of the market.

In February, the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's filed an investigation report with Taiwan, detailing certain improvement efforts that had been made, Yeh told reporters at a briefing yesterday.

Last month Taiwanese officials traveled to the US to observe apple-inspection procedures at several sites. After observing the collection, distribution, selection, packaging and quarantine procedures, the officials decided that the US had improved its inspection performance to meet Taiwan's demands.

"We will maintain strict checks on apples imported from the US, and will impose another ban if any apple worms or larva-ridden apple are found in the future. We have to prevent the entry of such pests, which could cause a serious threat to local agriculture," Yeh said.

Taiwan is the third-largest importer of US apples. US apples account for more than half the market for imported apples.

According to the bureau, between January last year and the time the ban was announced in December, an estimated 108,000 tonnes of apples had been imported from nine countries. About 53 percent came from the US.

"We don't know when the first batch of US apples will arrive. But apples that cleared US quarantine on or after April 27 will be eligible to enter Taiwan," Yeh said.

Hypermarket operators said the first batch of US apples will hit store shelves in the middle of next month and they should quickly recapture their huge market share.

"The biggest advantage of US apples is their enticing low prices," said Brenda Yen (嚴必文), public relations manager for Far Eastern Geant (愛買吉安).

Compared with the same grade of other apple imports, US apples retail for 10 percent less, she said.

It is expected that US apples will soon take up a 50 percent market share, while the rest would be shared by imports from New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Japan and South Korea, she said.
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