The State Phytosanitary Service (SFE), part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), conducted a Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) in order to open the market to Uruguayan citrus and it's about to finalize the corresponding notifications to allow imports of a variety of these fruits into the country.
"The commercial activity for nearly 18 different species of citrus, which includes oranges, mandarins, limes, grapefruit, and different hybrids for fresh consumption may begin in the months after the notification," said Hernando Morera, an official from the SFE's Pest Risk Analysis Unit.
Uruguay has taken steps to open different destination markets, such as Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Mexico, Philippines, India, Vietnam, and China.
Uruguay produces a wide variety of citrus. Among its best known products Uruguay produces Valencia, Salustiana, and Navel oranges; Satsuma, Nova and Clementine mandarins; Eureka, Fino, and Ana Claudia limes, and red, Star Ruby, and seedless white grapefruit.
The PRA is carried out by national plant health authorities whenever a country is interested in exporting fresh products to Costa Rica. It is also conducted when the exporting country has had a change in their phytosanitary status. The objective of the Pest Risk Analysis is to prevent the entry of diseases that could endanger Costa Rica's national phytosanitary status.
An ARP assesses whether the pests that the exporting country has could arrive into the importing country within the product being imported, thus causing a negative economic impact on the latter.
