RP lifts ban on Chinese fruits

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor announced that the Philippines is temporary lifting the ban on the importation of apples, pears, apricots, peaches, plums, quinces, cherries, almonds, walnuts, ornamental apples and corn from selected areas in China.

He said lifting the temporary ban will foster a stronger relationship in the trade of agricultural commodities between the Philippines and China.

This resulted from an inspection trip by a plant quarantine technical team, led by Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) director Blo Umpar Adiong, which confirmed isolated cases of infestation and that sources of imported Chinese fruits had no occurrences of infestation.

Plant quarantine officials in China have pledged to comply with the conditions stated in import permits and adopt stricter sanitary and phytosanitary measures to prevent pest infestation.

Montemayor said the BPI will resume processing, evaluation and issuance of permits for the importation of Chinese fruits. Inspection and mandatory treatment will be made on imports from certain areas.

All imported commodities from China found infested with pests shall be returned to their origin or destroyed at the expense of the importers.