Chinese retailers are removing US Washington Gala and Granny Smith apples, smuggled into the country after legal export to Hong Kong, from shelves to avoid stiff fines imposed by the government, reports Washington, US,Capital Press.
The authorities are cracking down on all so-called 'grey-channel' goods entering China in response to international complaints about China's theft of intellectual property rights, and in an effort to meet global food traceability requirements, the article said.
China granted access to Washington Red and Golden Delicious apples in the mid-1990s, but not to Gala and Granny Smith. Yet traders smuggle some 750,000 cartons of Washington Gala and 250,000-300,000 cartons of Granny Smith from Hong Kong into mainland China each season, according to the Washington Apple Commission (WAC).
Chinese retailers now face fines of up to US$35,000 per occurrence of illegal fruit, WAC president Todd Fryhover told Capital Press.
China's grey-channel crackdown could seriously affect Washington apple grower export returns next season, WAC said.
'If this continues we will see the impact next fall with our new crop,' WAC export manager Rebecca Baerveldt is quoted as saying. Grey-market movement into China adds US$10 to the price per box, she said.
Last season Washington directly shipped 784,720 cartons of Washington Red Delicious to China, down 6 per cent on the prior year. But Hong Kong's Washington Red imports were up 30 per cent to 2.2m cartons, the report said.
Meanwhile, the closure of Indonesia's main port Jakarta in six months is also worrying Washington apple grower-shippers.
Fruit will have to enter the country through Surabaya port, which will add two-three days to the overall transit time.
