The United States Apple Export Council (USAEC) has warned that the European Commission's decision to lower the MRL for postharvest treatment DPA to 0.1 mg/kg could end its trading relationship with European customers.
The USAEC, which represents the export interests of 11 apple-producing states in the US, says that every one of its states will be hit by the ruling on DPA announced by the EC last week.
Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association, had said prior to the EC ruling that New York state shippers would walk away from the market if the MRL was lowered to 0.1 mg/kg. New York is a major exporter of apples into the UK and Europe.
'Any industry in the world that has not operated in a DPA-free environment for the last few years will find it very difficult to meet the new requirements,' saidScott Lynch, executive director of the USAEC.
Lynch insists that the US apple industry can 'survive without the European market' and says the body now hopes the EU will 'see sense' before the new MRL is imposed and prevent a decision that would be 'catastrophic' for the global apple industry.
He added: 'The US apple industry will survive without the European market. However, we are hugely disappointed to have this important route to market potentially cut off for USAEC shippers and even more so for our partners and friends in Europe.
'Not only will they not be able to import popular varieties from the US, but they also stand to have their options on a large proportion of imported fruit severely diminished by a bureaucratic decision that has ignored the weight of a great deal of evidence from various countries that the MRL for DPA should not be lowered.'
Representatives from the Chilean and South African industries have already expressed their concerns about the DPA ruling and its impact on respective exports into the European market, withAdrian Barlow, chief executive of English Apples & Pears, admitting he was now 'fearful' of a decline in top-fruit exports into the UK market.
