Gold kiwifruit has “fallen off” a New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries(MPI) list of fruit that can be exported to China, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Green kiwifruit is currently the only variety listed on the MPI’s Importing Countries Phytosanitary Requirements (ICPR) list for China.
The move has raised concerns within the New Zealand kiwifruit industry, with a number of stakeholders contacting the Herald to voice their fears for gold programmes into China this year.
However, the MPI clarified that the ICPR is not an official Chinese document and that the absence of gold kiwifruit was an administrative oversight, meaning there is no threat to the upcoming season.
“Both green and gold kiwifruit are supposed to be on that list,' an MPI spokesman told the Herald. 'We'll be making that update shortly.'
The development came just days after China’s China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) moved to suspend kiwiberry imports after reclassifying the fruit.
