First Batch Of Washington Cherries Headed To China Growers Overcome Daunting Obstacles To Gain Access To Chinese Market

Five years of negotiations paid off as the first official shipment of Washington state cherries winged its way to China this week.

“It’s a cause for celebration now and, we believe, will lead to enormous potential growth in the future,” said Kraig Naasz, vice president of the Yakima-based Northwest Horticultural Council.

The first 146 20-pound boxes of cherries from Stemilt Growers Inc. in Wenatchee were split between a prominent Chinese fruit importer and this week’s U.S.-sponsored food show, Stampede ‘97, in Shanghai.

Naasz predicted the cherries would be a big hit.

“Cherries are not produced domestically in China, and aside from the very few that may have found their way into China via Hong Kong, this will be the first exposure any Chinese consumer will have,” Naasz said Thursday.

“We anticipate that sweet cherries will be a big hit in the People’s Republic of China, primarily because of its color - a deep red - and because it’s very sweet, bite-sized piece of fruit.

“The only thing that’s likely to limit the initial sales is the rather high import duty that China assess on cherry imports.”

The Washington State Fruit Commission has estimated that up to 10 million pounds of cherries, worth $12.5 million, could be sold to China over the next five years, making it a major market for state growers.

“If Taiwan and Hong Kong are any indication, the Chinese people are very fond of high-quality cherries, and they’re willing to pay the right price for the right products,” said Bill Young, who does cherry marketing at Stemilt.

“If you can relate anything to do with Hong Kong and Taiwan to China, I would expect that to just take off. They love nice big Washington cherries,” Young said.

The road to selling the cherries in China has been long, Naasz said. It started in October 1992, when the U.S. and Chinese governments reached an agreement in which China pledged to either remove its barriers to trade in several agricultural commodities, including cherries, or to justify them on a scientific basis.

Both technical and trade negotiations continued over the years, culminating in the approval of a work plan last November that specified the packing, inspection and shipping procedures which U.S. growers must follow before exporting cherries to China, Naasz said.

“Those procedures largely embody current practices that are used to export to other places,” Naasz said.

Washington state is the nation’s leader in production of sweet cherries and is expecting a crop of 85,000 tons this year, up 23 percent from last year and the largest crop since 1989.