Kiwifruit cargo halted

Zespri is today making no reference to a scramble of activity at the Port of Tauranga last night as port workers worked to unload 50 containers of China-bound kiwifruit from the container ship NYK Futago.

Port workers who contacted SunLive say the cargo was discharged on instructions from China. The ship sailed for Tokyo at 8.30am today without the kiwifruit on board.


NYK Futago Tokyo bound – without kiwifruit. Photos: Bruce Barnard.

Zespri's statement this afternoon says the kiwifruit exporter has ‘temporarily deferred' exports to China until new checking protocols are in place.

'We are working with NZ kiwifruit suppliers and MPI to develop additional pre-shipping measures in response to AQSIQ's risk notification issued after the find of the fungus Neofabraea actinidiae through routine testing on four containers of fruit which arrived at Tianjin Port on June 8,” Zespri senior communications advisor Rachel Lynch.

'So it's not a China side decision, it's us. As far as I'm aware there were containers that were dockside that were going to be called back because we hadn't covered them under the new checking protocol.”

Neofabraea actinidiae is a fungus that causes fruit rot, but has no food safety implications. Zespri's rigorous quality systems for checking and rechecking fruit means the fungus affects only a tiny fraction of the 135 million trays the exporter is shipping this season.

'These protocols will be implemented after approval from MPI which we hope to have in the next few days, at which point we will resume exports to China for the 2016 season,” says Rachel.

'We had forecast sales of another 8 million trays of kiwifruit to China this season, with around 1 million trays of this now being reallocated to other markets.”

A number of additional pallets have also been placed on hold in China this week due to this issue, which were not subject to the new checking protocols.

Sales of kiwifruit which have cleared the customs process in China continue as normal and our sales season continues positively in China, on track to exceed last year's volume.

However, there is an increased risk of further finds of Neofabraea actinidiae from fruit still arriving in the market which has not been subject to the new protocols.

Deferring the China trade is in response to the central China authority AQSIQ issuing a risk notification on Friday last week specifying more stringent inspection and quarantine processes on NZ kiwifruit entering China ports and strengthening pre-shipping processes to prevent further incidences of the fungus arriving in China.

'All indications are that AQSIQ is treating this as a normal market access issue,” says Rachel. 'There are no records of Neofabraea actinidiae on Chinese kiwifruit, and authorities are taking reasonable measures to mitigate risk this may pose to the Chinese kiwifruit industry.

'We continue to work with Chinese officials and NZ government to mitigate any potential risk to China, along with any market access impact to NZ.”

On Wednesday, Stuff reported that Chinese authorities are tightening controls on imports of kiwifruit into the country.

The tough new quarantine inspections come after Beijing officials warned they planned to slow down New Zealand dairy, wool and kiwifruit imports, sparking fears of a trade war.

The Chinese expressed their extreme displeasure at New Zealand inquiries into cheap Chinese steel allegedly dumped on the local market, and threatened to retaliate.

After the threats were revealed, Prime Minister John Key publicly castigated Trade Minister Todd McClay for covering up the threats. He sought and received assurances the world's biggest-trading nation would not act on its hostile ultimatum.

But on Tuesday China issued a risk notification and strengthened inspection and quarantine processes on New Zealand kiwifruit entering China's ports.

The Ministry of Primary Industries issued a public statement on Tuesday night, saying it had been made aware that two containers of Zespri kiwifruit had been found to contain a fungus (Neofabraea actinidiae) that could cause fruit to rot when in long-term storage

"This was detected as part of a routine inspection, and we are in dialogue with Chinese authorities about it,” a ministry spokesperson said.

"Chinese border inspection authorities have advised of a temporary increase in their inspection of New Zealand kiwifruit."

The China authority AQSIQ, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, ordered the measures on July 29, after the fungus discovery in containers of fruit at Tianjin Port on June 8.

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2 comments

Who owns New Zealand?

Posted on 05-08-2016 18:43 | By SML

How did the Government (And Minister McLeay) allow is to get into this position, affection our economy? ""The Chinese expressed their extreme displeasure at New Zealand inquiries into cheap Chinese steel allegedly dumped on the local market, and threatened to retaliate."" This reported commented threat is appalling, given we are supposed to have a trade agreement with China. So - is it an agreement, or is it a noose around our country's economic neck?


Restriction

Posted on 06-08-2016 09:15 | By Gigilo

Maybe China's access to the Premium Kiwifruit market should be restricted. People always want what they can't have and are prepared to pay for it.


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