Korea cleared to export tangerines to US

By Park Si-soo

Tangerines grown on Jeju Island are shown in this file photo.

Korea has been cleared to resume exporting tangerines to the United States as the latter has eased its regulation on a pesticide that is widely used in domestic tangerine farms.

The exports have been put on hold since 2010 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared the ban on the imports of fruits treated with Mancozeb, the pesticide used to protect fruit, vegetable and field crops against a wide spectrum of fungal diseases.

But the agency has recently decided to soften the stance, saying in a bulletin issued on July 24 that it will allow the imports of tangerine containing 10 milligrams of the pesticide or less per one kilogram.

It was rare pleasant news for local tangerine famers who were grappling with declining sales amid the prolonged economic downturn. Experts said farmers will be able to make up for their losses in domestic market with gains in the U.S.

“This is very good news for domestic tangerine farmers,” said a spokesman for the Jeju Citrus Growers Agricultural Cooperative on Jeju Island, which accounts for nearly 30 percent of the country’s tangerine production. “We expect that the exports of the fruit harvested in Jeju will increase rapidly.”

Experts said tangerine famers on Jeju are the biggest contributors to the eased regulation. They joined forces with the Korean Food and Drug Administration in July last year and have since provided the EPA with scientific evidence that consuming a small quantity of Mancozeb doesn’t pose a health risk.

“Many famers here have experienced tough times when the ‘ban’ was in place,” the spokesman said. “But the ordeal is over and the new game has just begun.”

He noted that the eased regulation doesn’t guarantee bullish sales of Korean tangerines in the U.S., saying “We need to try harder to improve quality of our product and attract American consumers.”