Guava fruit from Taiwan may soon enter the U.S. market.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said it has approved imports of fresh guava fruit from Taiwan into the continental U.S.
In December, the USDA accepted comments on a pest risk assessment of shipping guava fruit from Taiwan to the U.S.
In the pest risk report, the USDA identified the terms under which the fruit can be shipped to the U.S.
- Imports in commercial quantities only;
- Development of an operational work plan that plant health officials in Taiwan must enter into with the USDA;
- Registration of farms and packinghouses with Taiwan plant health officials;
- Regular inspections of farms by plant health officials from Taiwan;
- Grove sanitation and trapping for fruit flies at farms;
- Bagging of fruit intended for export;
- Cold treatment or irradiation for pest prevention; and
- Pre-export inspection by Taiwan plant health officials; and
- Port-of-entry inspections.
In an economic analysis of the effect of Taiwanese shipments of guava to the U.S,, the USDA said additional guava imports of 1,100 metric tons are “likely to fulfill unmet domestic demand and unlikely to have significant market impacts.”
The 2012 Census of Agriculture reported 399 guava farms in the U.S., with a total of 1,733 acres. Florida (1,312 acres) and California (268 acres) had most of the plantings, followed by Hawaii (147 acres) and Texas (7 acres).
Over the period 2013 to 2017, the USDA said the U.S. imported an average of 7,000 metric tons and exported 12,000 metric tons of guavas, mangoes, and mangosteens. Between 2014 and 2017, Mexico (93.1%), Thailand (5.6%, India (0.7%, and Haiti (0.3%) and Ecuador (0.1%) were the largest import sources by volume.
The USDA said several steps need to be completed before Taiwanese exporters can begin shipping to the U.S., notably completion of an operational work plan for pest prevention safeguards.
