The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), a division of the USDA, has granted access to imports of Vietnamese lychees and longans from October.
The exotic fruits can be imported to the US mainland after undergoing irradiation treatment, following an amendment to APHIS regulations published on the US Federal Register.
Lychees and longans can be imported on the proviso that the fruits are grown in registered, disease-free orchards that are monitored by Vietnam’s plant protection agency, NPPO; that the fruits are treated with irradiation; that both longans and lychees are imported in commercial consignments and labelled accordingly; and that each consignment of fruit is accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate.
“The annual quantities of lychees and longans that Vietnam expects to export to the US, namely, 600 tonnes and 1,200 tonnes, respectively, would be equivalent to about 17 per cent and 69 per cent, respectively, of average annual US imports for these two fruits, 2007-2010,” the APHIS report stated.
“Negative impacts for US producers will be moderated to the extent that imports from Vietnam displace imports from other foreign sources.”
Imports of the Vietnamese fruit will not be granted access to Florida or Hawaii, two states where both lychees and longans are grown commercially.
