New Zealand is about to relax quarantine on Vietnamese lemons and grapefruits

New Zealand plans to relax sampling and monitoring measures and remove a species of mealybug from the list of harmful organisms for Vietnamese citrus products.

SPS Vietnam Office said it has just received notifications from New Zealand on draft plant quarantine measures for some fresh fruits imported from Vietnam.

Accordingly, New Zealand’s Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) is considering a proposal to remove the requirement for the national plant protection agency (NPPO) to inspect each grower’s batch. Instead, they may determine batch uniformity according to another standard.

The country also plans to eliminate the subject of quarantine, mealybugs (Planococcus minor), from some citrus products such as lemons and grapefruits from some countries, including Vietnam.

Drafts to relax these quarantine measures have been sent for comments to relevant countries. New Zealand is expected to approve the draft on November 1.

In November 2022, the two countries signed to open export markets for Vietnamese lemon and grapefruit products during the visit to Hanoi of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. This is the fruit exported from Vietnam to New Zealand after mango, dragon fruit and rambutan.

Among these agricultural products, lemons are considered gold in New Zealand. New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam, Ms. Tredene Dobson, assessed lemons as a necessary ingredient for the hotel and restaurant industry, which is very developed in the Oceania country. The price of lemons sold in the New Zealand market is about 700,000 VND per kilogram. In addition, people in this country also love other tropical fruits from Vietnam.

Vietnam is New Zealand’s 14th largest trading partner, two-way trade between the two countries has increased by 59% in the past 5 years, reaching 1.6 billion USD in 2022. The two sides are setting a trade turnover target two-way revenue reaches 2 billion USD by 2024.

Source: https://vnexpress.net/new-zealand-sap-noi-long-kiem-dich-voi-chanh-buoi-viet-nam-4663704.html