Avocados have made it to the top of New Zealand’s list of horticulture products for access to China – but it could be two to three years before the borders open to the fruit.

Ministry for Primary Industries’ director of market assurance Tim Knox says the avocado’s status has been established following the recent China/NZ Sanitary and Phytosanitary Joint Management Committee meeting.

Tim says China’s certification agency, called AQSIQ, had started preparatory work for the risk assessment of avocados from New Zealand in late-2013.

“As the first next step, we will provide an update to the pest list for avocados, provided with the submission of 2010, and use that opportunity to once again affirm the status of avocados being New Zealand’s top priority for horticultural market access.

“It is difficult to give an indication of the likely timeframe for AQSIQ to complete their work, but our experience with other products is it could take up to two to three years and possibly longer if a significant phytosanitary issue is identified during the AQSIQ risk assessment phase.”

Tim says MPI appreciates the importance access for NZ avocados to China has for the industry, and the additional profile the issue has following the announcement of its successful Primary Growth Partnership bid.

New Zealand Avocado CEO Jen Scoular agrees, saying although China will be an important future market for the industry, gaining and retaining access won’t be easy.

“Pipfruit NZ lost access last year and has been working to have access reinstated, which illustrates that gaining access doesn’t guarantee access in the future,” says Jen.

“Currently, gaining access is a process we are following; but without perfect future predictability of results.”