On February 21, the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) issued an announcement on the plant quarantine requirements for importing fresh apples from Iran, allowing the import of fresh apples from Iran that meet the relevant requirements.

The announcement shows that the orchards, packaging plants and cold treatment facilities exported to China must be reviewed and filed by the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture, and jointly approved and registered by the General Administration of Customs of China and Iran. The quarantine pests that China is concerned about include fruit fly, Mediterranean fruit fly, Chlidaspis asiatica, codling moth, Diaspidiotus prunorum, Prunus chinensis, Phytophthora amylovora, Thin moth, apple grass aphid and apple scab.

Apple orchards exported to China should establish a sound quality management and traceability system under Iranian supervision, implement Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), maintain sanitary conditions in the orchard, and implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The processing, packaging, storage and shipment of apples exported to China must be carried out under the quarantine supervision of Iran or its authorized officials.

It should be noted that all apples exported to China need to undergo cold treatment against fruit flies. Standard is 1.11°C or below (pulp temperature) for 14 consecutive days or more; or 1.67°C or below (pulp temperature) for 16 consecutive days or more; or 2.22°C or below (pulp temperature) for continuous treatment 18 days or more.

Within two years after the start of the trade, Iran should sample 2% of each batch of apples exported to China for inspection, with a minimum sample size of 1,200 fruits, and at the same time select at least 60 fruits or suspicious fruits found during the inspection for dissection. examine. If there is no phytosanitary problem within two years, the sampling ratio can be reduced to 1%, but not less than 600 fruits.

As one of the world's major apple producing countries, Iran's apple planting area is 250,000 hectares, with an annual output of 3.7 million tons. In recent years, Iran has planned to increase non-oil exports, especially agricultural products. In the 2021/22 production season, Iran exported a total of 884,798 tons of apples to 27 countries, with a total value of about 330 million US dollars. The main export destinations for these apples are Iraq, Russia, Afghanistan, India and the UAE.

Iranian apple varieties mainly include red delicious, golden delicious, gala, granny smith, pink lady, etc. The main varieties for export are red apples and golden apples.

Apples are the second fruit that Iran has been allowed to export to China after citrus. On August 31 last year, fresh Iranian citrus, including oranges, tangerines and sweet lemons, entered China. Iranian Agriculture Minister Javad Sadatinejad said that in the first phase, Iran will export about 100,000 tons of apples to China. In the 10 months to the end of January this year, Iran's agricultural exports to China reached about 350 million U.S. dollars, a five-fold increase from four years ago.