Fresh Vietnamese watermelons granted China market access

On Dec. 18, the General Administration of Customs of China issued an announcement via its website stating that fresh Vietnamese watermelons meeting the stipulated phytosanitary requirements would be permissible for import. The peak season for domestically grown watermelons in China runs from June to October, while Vietnamese watermelons are in abundance from November to May. Consequently, Vietnamese watermelons will be able to fill the off-season supply gap on the Chinese market. For many years, Vietnamese watermelons have been brought into China under cross-border trading schemes, which are somewhat unstable and irregular channels that Chinese authorities have recently been attempting to more closely regulate. In the first 10 months of this year, the export value of Vietnamese watermelons to China amounted to $44 million. Anticipations are high that both the export volume and value to China will experience substantial growth now that official market access has been granted. The ...