Spanish media reported that Spain has become the first EU country to obtain a permit to export fruits to China. However, Spanish fruits are now facing other obstacles: The Russian government has attempted to stop a train carrying Spanish fruit. This happened right after many years of negotiations that allowed Spanish plums and peachs to enter the Chinese market, which would have partly offset the Russian boycott of EU and Spanish fruits.
According to Miguel Angel Gomez, the responsible person from the Fruit & Agriculture Association in the Extremadura region - currently they are unable to use trains to transport fruits, but in the future this will be very beneficial. China demands that all imported Spanish plums and peaches have to be maintained at around 0 to 1 degree, and they have to be shipped within 15 days - these two conditions can only be met by train transport. The only other alternative is the more economical sea shipment, but that will take around 26 days. As for air shipment, the imported fruits can be shipped to China much faster, but it's far more costly.
