news, local-news, Fruit fly, produce, imports, trade, Taiwan, pest control

UPDATE 4pm: Tasmanian fruit exports destined for Taiwan have been blocked amid concern about the discovery of fruit flies. The Asian nation suspended fruit imports from the two regions where the pest has been discovered: the Furneaux Group of islands in the North-East and the 15 kilometre control zone surrounding Spreyton in the North-West. Minister for Primary Industries and Water Jeremy Rockliff said the closure of the Taiwanese market would have “little impact for growers”. “... only around six per cent of fruit remains on trees and only a small amount of fruit goes to Taiwan,” Mr Rockliff said. “Further, important markets such as China remain open and fruit destined for Taiwan has been diverted to other markets.” READ MORE: Taiwan places import restrictions on parts of Tasmania EARLIER: Taiwan has suspended imports of Tasmanian produce amid concerns about fruit flies. The pest has been discovered at four Tasmanian sites in the past fortnight, with adult flies captured on Flinders Island and larvae found in Spreyton. The Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment confirmed Taiwan had suspended trade on Wednesday but said trade was continuing with other overseas and domestic markets that don’t have biosecurity requirements for the Queensland Fruit Fly. RELATED: Biosecurity Tasmania general manager Llyod Klumpp said the department’s priority was “to continue to implement the measures in place to prevent further movement of the fruit fly, eradicate it from the state and give confidence to our overseas markets that we are again fruit fly free”. “It is our state’s fruit fly free status that provides access free of onerous requirements to a number of international markets,” Dr Klumpp said. Dr Klumpp said suspension of trade from a country with specific market access requirements was an expected process to be implemented following a pest or disease detection. “We highly respect these markets and to retain their confidence it is important to keep them fully informed of the latest information and our responses so they can make informed decisions in relation to their biosecurity,” he said. “We recognise the importance of this market to local producers and we will be working closely with industry and the Australian Government to understand and implement the requirements of our trading partner to re-establish market access as soon as possible.” MORE TO COME

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