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Exports to Australia – update 22 January 2009

2009-01-22

However I think that anything concerning Australia and its somewhat unique approach to importing (e.g. biosecurity mixed with politics) remains of interest to readers. I have put most of the information on http://www.tomatoesnz.co.nz/  with links to the details directly off the news items on the home page

 

The tomato and capsicum exports to Australia are going reasonably well under the interim emergency measures that Biosecurity Australia approved on 10 December. To meet those measures MAFBNZ instigated its “Temporary Phytosanitary Compliance Programme for the Export of Capsicum and Tomato Fruit to Australia 2008/2009. This is based around an industry funded compliance programme developed for us by Market Access Solutionz: (for version 3 go to:

http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/files/regs/exports/plants/tomatoes/tomatoes-capsicums-australia.pdf

The emergency measures are pretty tough to meet! Are they all necessary? We haven’t even gone there. They are also time consuming and expensive.  However the several growers that are registered for export to Australia are totally committed to exporting this summer and are doing so. Where truss tomatoes are being exported to Australia growers also still have to meet the separate compliance programme for PSTVd.

 

Other hurdles to overcome were:

·                That each organisation had to update their systems to the new compliance programme.

·                That glasshouses had to be audited by both AQIS and AsureQuality, all before the first product was put up for pre-clearance.  

·                All products had to be fumigated before export (something that has never been required for tomatoes before).  

 

The following is what happened to get the products moving: 10 December AQIS (Australian Quarantine Inspection Service) started issuing import permits and 12 December the first glasshouses were audited by both AQIS and AsureQuality. By the afternoon of 12 December the first capsicums were  pre-cleared and the first tomato’s pre-cleared 16 December. At the time of writing (15 January) more than 50 lots have been put up for pre-clearance and all have passed inspection. This is a remarkable achievement by all concerned.

 

We have not yet seen anything of the Australian Pest Risk Analysis that will form the basis of any permanent changes to the Import health Standard that BA may want. So that is still a ‘wait & see’ situation. In the meantime the emergency measures will remain in place for the foreseeable future and I suspect for the remainder of this summer’s export season; i.e. until about April or May.

 

 The Australian export market for both products is relatively new, is still being developed, is quite fickle because of the different way the fresh produce market operates in Australia compared to New Zealand and could be said to be weather dependant; e.g. the hotter it gets and stays over there the more the Australian crops suffer from heat stress and the more product we should be able to export. Our capsicums go into the top end niche of the Australian market whereas with the tomatoes it is more a situation of filling a market demand in several areas.

The greenhouse vegetable industry’s ability to export over the summer affects ALL growers otherwise the expected stability in the domestic market isn’t there, especially for the larger crop of tomatoes, and also to get anywhere near satisfactory returns for growers.

The greenhouse tomato and capsicum plants love the summer light and heat and are vigorous producers at this time of year so there is always ample product around. The possible cloud that the industry was still under, early in December, of not being able to export was a huge threat. By late November tomato prices were already at dumping levels and the new capsicum price was at the late season full flush level.  Growers are thankful the interim compliance programme was able to be put in place so quickly following the BA announcement of its emergency measures.

AsureQuality, as the lead IVA (Independent Verification Authority), has done a sterling job to get everyone up and running as quickly as possible. The AQIS inspectors doing the preclearance here in New Zealand (under these emergency measures there is no clearance allowed on arrival at the border in Australia) have been efficient and consistent in their approach. We would like to thank them both for their hard work to enable growers to meet the new requirements and getting product away so promptly.

 

Ken Robertson

22 Jan 09