U.S. apples gain full access to Chinese market for all varieties

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Apples grown in the U.S. can be freely exported to the vast China market, thanks to a new trade agreement announced Monday, Jan. 26.

(File photo | Mlive Media Group)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. apple growers will have full access to the Chinese market later this year, thanks to a new trade agreement reached over the past weekend between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Chinese government.

“With this new agreement, the apple industry estimates that within two years, exports to China will reach 5 million bushels annually, a value of nearly $100 million per year,” according to statement from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The agreement is good news for Michigan apple growers, who produced nearly 30 million bushels in 2014. Michigan is the third-largest producer of apples in the United States, behind Washington and New York.

In 2013, Michigan produced 1.26 billion pounds of apples with about 480 million pounds sold as fresh apples, according to the USDA. Much of that production and processing is based in West Central Michigan.

"This will allow a greater share of U.S. apple exports to China in the coming months and has the potential to increase U.S. fresh apple exports, which were valued at more than $1 billion in 2013, by approximately 10 percent," the USDA said in a statement on Monday, Jan. 26.

RELATED: Apple export deal with China opens up new markets for U.S. growers, says USDA Secretary Vilsack

U.S. apple growers have been trying to gain broader access to the Chinese market since the world’s most populous nation first allowed imports of Northwest red delicious and golden delicious apples in the early 1990s.

After closing the market in 2012 because of health concerns, China re-opened its borders to the red delicious and golden delicious apples last fall. The agreement was reached during meetings in San Francisco between USDA and China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

"USDA values the relationship we are forging with China to bring mutually-beneficial food and agricultural trade to Americans and Chinese alike,” Vilsack said in a statement. “The new access for American exports we're announcing today is the culmination of decades of hard work by USDA staff.”

RELATED: Michigan apple growers and packers reflect on this year's harvest as picking season ends

Jim Harger covers business for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.

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