Taiwan ban on apples hits industry
YAKIMA – The holiday season got off to a rough start for apple growers this week with news that Taiwan, the United States’ third-largest export market, had banned U.S. apples.
Taiwan imposed the ban Tuesday after finding a codling moth larvae in a shipment of U.S. apples, the third such case this year. The apples had come from Oregon, but codling moths had been detected in two previous shipments from Washington and California.
Under the terms of a trade agreement, a third incident of codling moths is grounds for closing the Taiwanese border to U.S. apples. The United States and Taiwan reached that agreement after Taiwan banned the import of U.S. apples for more than a month in late 2002, when similar larvae were found.
The ban was especially unwelcome news for growers anticipating February’s Chinese New Year in Taiwan, the biggest selling season for U.S. apples.
More than half of all apples on sale in Taiwan are imported from the United States. Consumers there are particularly taken with Fuji apples from Washington state.
“Obviously, we want to get this market opened as soon as possible,” said Mark Powers, of the Northwest Horticultural Council, a trade group. “This is normally a very important marketing season for Washington state apples, and product needs to be on the water starting the week after Christmas through the first two weeks of January.”
Washington state produces about half of all U.S. apples. Apples are the state’s most valuable agricultural commodity, worth about $1.15 billion a year.
Taiwan is the state’s third-largest export market, behind Mexico and Canada. Growers already had shipped 1.5 million boxes to Taiwan this season, an increase of 106 percent from the same period a year ago.
Part of the reason for the increased shipments stemmed from anticipation of a possible third case of codling moths. Smart shippers wanted to get apples into the country before the ban, Powers said.
Still, that number is close to the volumes that were sent for the entire season in 2002 and 2003, he said. A typical shipping season runs from September through August. “Shipments are at very healthy levels, but there is also a bigger crop this year,” he said. “So potentially there could be another million boxes that could go if there wasn’t a market closure.”
Washington apple growers estimate this year’s crop at about 98 million boxes. Each box weighs 42 pounds.
Rebecca Baerveldt, deputy export director of the Wenatchee-based Washington Apple Commission, said it would be hard to predict what the losses might be.
Last year, Washington state shipped about 2 million boxes to Taiwan, worth about $30 million.
“This year, we think we might have been able to double our sales into Taiwan, so you could say we might even lose as much as $30 million into Taiwan,” she said. “Now we have to try to find some other markets to make up for that.”
Powers said it was unlikely that new markets could be developed in the short term. In the long term, the United States must focus on ensuring that Taiwan does not impose even tougher penalties, Powers said.
Other countries turn away shipments of U.S. apples where codling moths are detected, but do not shut down U.S. imports altogether, he said.
Taiwanese officials have said the ban will last until inspectors there are assured that the United States has strengthened procedures at orchards and packaging installations to prevent codling moth larvae from infesting the apples.