China Approves Philippine Durians for Import

China’s General Administration of Customs recently announced via its website that fresh durians from the Philippines meeting the stipulated phytosanitary requirements would be permissible for import into China.

According to the announcement, orchards and packaging plants intending to export durians to China must be jointly approved by the Philippines Department of Agriculture and China’s General Administration of Customs. The list of quarantine pests of concern includes nine species of insects and fungi, namely, the green point gall (Albonectria rigidiuscula), gray pineapple mealybug (Dysmicoccus neobrevipes), cocoa mealybug (Exallomochlus hispidus), scale insects (Icerya pulchra), coffee mealybug (Planococcus lilacinus), passionvine mealybug (Planococcus minor), Jack Beardsley mealybug (Pseudococcus jackbeardsley), jackfruit rhizopus fruit rot (Rhizopus artocarpi) and white root rot (Rigidoporus lignosus).

The protocol stipulates that orchards wishing to export durians to China must establish a traceability system and adhere to good agricultural practices and integrated pest management techniques. Processing operations from sorting all the way to shipping conducted by the packaging plants must be overseen by the Philippines Department of Agriculture or its authorized agents.

Additionally, the Philippines Department of Agriculture is required to take random samples of 2% of durians bound for China to check for the presence of pests of concern. The required sampling rate will be reduced to 1% if there are no quarantine problems for two years. The detection of contaminated durians will result in rejection of the entire shipment by China, or possibly even the suspension of imports for the remainder of the season.

Durians are a crucial agricultural item in the Philippines. Approximately 78% of the country’s durian production comes from Davao, a key seaport city on the island of Mindanao. Compared with other durian cultivars, local varieties boast remarkable disease resistance and high yields. The peak harvest period for Davao durians runs from July to October, with Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore as the main overseas markets.

It is reported that Davao produces more than 50,000 metric tons of durians each year with over 3,000 growers and five packaging plants. With market access now secured, China is expected to become the largest importer of Philippine durians in the coming years.

Image: Pixabay

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article.