California Plums Exported to China This Summer for the First Time; Export Announcement Comes After More Than a Decade of Negotiations.

REEDLEY, Calif. -- After more than a decade of work to open access for fresh California plums, the California Tree Fruit Agreement (CTFA) announced today that growers will finally be able to formally ship their high-quality plums to China in 2006.

A combination of California Peach, Plum and Nectarine (PPN) industry leaders, the California Grape & Tree Fruit League, Federal and State representatives, and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) trade and quarantine officials all worked in partnership to secure formal market access to China for California plums. The final Work Plan was signed by Chinese officials and APHIS on December 16, 2005.

"This is one of the most significant successes for this industry in many years," said Blair Richardson, CTFA president. "We have been working on this for more than a decade and we have finally accomplished our goal. We will now launch new promotional programs in this important market to which we expect to ship up to 500,000 packages in the first year notwithstanding unforeseen weather or market issues."

The California PPN industry has been working toward gaining access for California plums since 1994. Access was thought to be secured for 2005 until China renewed scientifically unjustified concerns during the spring. However these were alleviated through the consistent efforts of industry representatives, researchers and government officials in time for the upcoming 2006 season. The final Protocol allows access to China for plums from five California counties: Fresno, Tulare, Kern, Kings and Madera.

With a growing urban population of over three-quarters of a billion people and a rapidly expanding economy (GDP growth greater than 9 percent in 2004), Chinese consumers are demanding more imported agricultural goods. The total value of Chinese agricultural imports was $25.9 billion in 2004, which was a 50 percent increase over the prior year.

In 2004, California exported $456 million worth of farm products to China, ranking it as the state's fifth-largest overseas market. California would like to export more farm products to China, which has a population of 1.3 billion people and a rapidly growing middle class. Currently, citrus, grapes, wine and raisins are the main California agricultural products that have access to China. In November, Richardson traveled with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on a trade mission to China to help promote California agriculture. "The Governor's strong support of our industry's trade issue and his advocacy of enhanced exports of California agricultural products is a benefit to all Californians."

California plum exports through October 2005 were approximately 4.5 million boxes with Taiwan and Hong Kong constituting 30 percent of that total (approximately 1.5 million boxes). Within 5 years, China is estimated to surpass Canada as the number one plum export market for California. (Canada received more than 2 million boxes through October 2005.) Total plum production in California for 2005 was more than 12 million boxes.

The California Tree Fruit Agreement, headquartered in Reedley, Calif., administers marketing order programs on behalf of California's 2,000 fresh peach, plum and nectarine farmers. Originally established in 1933, CTFA includes the Peach Commodity Committee and the Nectarine Administrative Committee, both federal programs, and the California Plum Marketing Board, a state program.