The US ban on Argentinean lemons could be lifted this year if a proposed rule set out by the White House Office of Management and Budget comes into force.
Dale McNiel, an attorney representing north-west Argentinean lemon exporters, told The Packer that the Office of Management and Budget has 90 days from mid-May to publish the rule.
Under the proposed regulations, the lemons would have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach including shipping in commercial consignments, a limited harvesting period, registration and specific monitoring protocol.
Fruit would also not be eligible for distribution inkey US citrus production states such as Arizona, California, Florida,Louisiana and Texas.
Despite the stringent requirements and restrictions being proposed, US citrus players have still expressed concerns that the entry of Argentinean lemons could make their own fruit vulnerable to pests and diseases such as citrus canker and black spot fungus.
'We're hoping that APHIS will provide a 90-day comment period if and when it (the ruling) comes out,' Jim Cranney, president of the California Citrus Quality Council, told The Packer.
Argentinean lemon shipments to the US were suspended in 2001 due tophytosanitary reasons just one year after the South American nationgained entry to the market. During the last year of shipments, the country exported some 19,484 tonnes of lemons, grapefruit and oranges to the US.
The South American country is expected to experience a “very difficult” lemon season in2009, with local analyst Top Info Marketing predicting the “lowest”prices of the last few years, following a successful 2008 campaign.
'It's difficult to estimate by how much Argentinean lemon exports willdecline in 2009 given that the season has only just started,' BetinaErnst of Top Info had told Fruitnet.com in April. 'The worst expectations are for a300,000-tonne export crop and the most optimistic are for 360,000tonnes.'
