Vietnam has moved closer to gaining access to the US for its pomelos after the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)prepared its pest risk assessment.
Gaining access has been a number of years in the making for the Vietnamese industry with the Covid-19 pandemic creating delays.
The APHIS published its pest risk assessment on 27 December 2021 and is taking feedback until 25 February 2022. Following this, the agency will announce a final decision regarding the authorisation of fresh pomelo fruit from Vietnam.
According to a report from the Vietnam News Agency, Vietnam’s deputy minister of agriculture and rural development Tran Thanh Nam, has encouraged the potential exporters to coordinate with Vietnam plant quarantine authorities to ensure they are ready to export pomelos to the US as soon as possible.
Tran hoped after pomelos the US would then evaluate opening the door for Vietnamese coconuts.
According to Vietnam’s Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country has 105,400ha of pomelo production, with a total output of nearly 950,000 tonnes.
