Costa Rica Could Start Importing Mexican Avocados Again

Importers could assume the cost of a laboratory test to determine the absence of the sunblotch disease so that the SFE can authorize entry into the country.

Monday, March 6, 2017

The proposal was raised by the SFE in a meeting held with Mexican authorities in late February.

Randall Benavides, president of the Chamber of Exporters and Importers of Perishables, told Nacion.com that "... the union is willing to pay for laboratory tests, but asked for them to be done in a short timeframes in order to prevent the avocados from being kept in warehouses for a long time and ripening. He further requested that the tests be transparent and for access to be granted to the results and, if necessary, that other analysis can be done in laboratories outside of the SFE."

See: "Avocado and the High Cost of Protectionism"

"... Benavides emphasized that the importers also asked that the phytosanitary law be enforced, which requires that the seed or other reproductive material in nurseries be certified as free from sunblotch. Importers also believe that laboratory tests should be random and that the number of tests for each importer should decrease over time if their results prove that there is no presence of sunblotch."

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Costa Rica: Conditions to Import Mexican Avocados

November 2017

Hass avocados from Mexico can be imported in containers, provided that they come certified as fruit containers that are free from the sunspot disease or from areas certified as free.

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