By Ros Krasny
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China will lift its suspension on the import of red and golden delicious apples from Washington State, reopening a market once valued at about $6.5 million a year, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Friday.
The restrictions were placed in August 2012 by Chinese quarantine authorities due to the repeated interception of three apple pests: speck rot, bull's-eye rot, and Sphaeropsis rot.
Since then, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) worked with the U.S. apple industry to develop additional safeguarding measures that address China's concerns about the pests.
After two years of negotiations between the respective governments, a recent site visit by Chinese officials, supported by APHIS and local industry groups, was able to alleviate concerns of spreading the disease by mature, symptomless apples.
Some of the safeguards that will be implemented include cold storage of apples and visual inspection of the fruit prior to shipping to ensure there is no evidence of disease.
China is the world's largest apple grower but also is a significant importer of the fruit. In 2010-11 it imported more than 3 million 40-pound cartons (about 54,446 tonnes) of Washington apples, becoming the state's fourth largest apple export market that year.
"Clearly China has great potential for Washington apples, with an increasing middle class willing to purchase high-quality apples," said Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission in Wenatchee, the international marketing arm of the state's apple industry.
About 90 percent of U.S. apple exports originate from Washington State. Major buyers include Mexico, Canada, Taiwan and Indonesia.
(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Bill Trott)