China

​Export Requirements:
Fresh U.S. blueberries shipped to China must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate (PC) issued by USDA/APHIS. All California blueberry exporters who wish to ship to China must also register and become certified by APHIS officials prior to the season. If a shipper previously registered and was added to the list, it is not necessary to repeat this process before each season. China has strict protocols regarding registered shippers, and a list of registered shippers is sent to Chinese officials prior to the start of each season. To register, please contact the Commission office.
California is permitted to ship fruit under a systems approach program. Due to Chinese concerns over blueberry maggot, other U.S. states (Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, or North Carolina) are currently required to fumigate fruit for export to China with methyl bromide. 
What follows is a summary of the phytosanitary protocol for exporting fresh U.S. blueberries to China.  Users should carefully review the protocol document.  Exports to China MUST follow the regulations in the US-China work plan, including registering to export and actions prior to harvest, please see the link for specific details.
Regardless of the state of origin, the blueberries shall meet the following requirements:
  • Packing
    • Fruit must come from packing houses that are registered and approved by USDA
    • A list of production fields supplying fruit for export must be on file with the packing facility, and be available to USDA/APHIS upon request during site visits
    • Before packing, fruits shall be sorted to ensure that they are free of insects, mites, decayed fruits, leaves, twigs, roots, and soil.
  • Packaging and labeling
    • Packaging for blueberries shall be clean and unused. 
    • All packages must be labeled in English with the grower lot number (same as the production field’s registered number), and the name of the packing facility or shipper.
      • If pallets are used, the typeface “输往中华人民共和国”(Exported to the People’s Republic of China)” in English or Chinese shall be noted on every pallet of blueberries.
      • If pallets are not used, the typeface “输往中华人民共和国” (Exported to the People’s Republic of China) in English or Chinese shall be affixed to each individual packaging.
  • Sampling and testing
    • Prior to export of each consignment, APHIS or APHIS-authorized regulatory cooperators must select a random sample, representative of all of the grower lots in the consignment and consisting of 2% of the total number of cases in the consignment, and inspect 100% of the sampled fruits.  
      • All fruits in the sample that are suspected of having insect damage will be cut for internal inspection.
      • A sample of blueberry fruit, taken from each grower lot upon delivery to the packing facility, will be subjected to an approved fruit extraction test using either the brown sugar or salt water method.
      • Ideally samples will be tested as soon as possible after the fruit arrives at the packing facility, but must be tested within 24 hours of the time of harvest.
      • Packing facilities must have a designated area for fruit testing with good lighting and appropriate equipment and materials.
Grown in California, Oregon, or Washington
The PC accompanying fresh blueberries originating from California, Oregon, or Washington must bear the following additional declarations:
  • “This consignment of blueberry fruit complies with Protocol of Phytosanitary Requirements for the Export of Fresh Blueberry Fruit from USA to China, and is free from any quarantine pests of concern to China.”
AND
  • “The fruit in this consignment were produced in pest free areas for Conotrachelus nenuphar (plum curculio) and Rhagoletis mendax (blueberry maggot).”
Blueberries must undertake a fruit extraction test upon arrival at the packing facility to confirm freedom from Acrobasis vaccinii (cranberry fruitworm) and Grapholita packardi (cherry fruitworm).
According to a BCI analysis of data from GlobalMRL, for 87 pesticides with U.S. blueberry MRLs, 71 pesticides have no Chinese MRL established, and six (6) have a Chinese MRL more restrictive than the U.S. MRL.  Only 10 of these pesticides have a Chinese MRL harmonized with or set higher than the U.S. MRL.
​Tariffs
Starting in April 2018, the Government of China imposed a series of additional Safeguard Duties on some blueberry products of U.S. origin in retaliation for the U.S. imposition of Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum.  These Safeguard Duties currently create an additional 45 percent tariff on top of the MFN rate to which U.S. blueberry products are normally subjected. 
The current Chinese applied tariff on U.S. fresh blueberries is 75 percent.  Chinese enterprises wishing to import U.S. fresh blueberries may submit a Section 301 retaliatory tariff waiver petition to the Chinese government to seek to reduce the import tariff to 45 percent.  More information on this tariff waiver process is available via USDA FAS reporting.