29 April 2025
The final report recommends that the importation of commercially produced pomelo to Australia from all commercial production areas of Vietnam can be permitted, subject to a range of biosecurity requirements.
The final report takes into account comments received from stakeholders on the draft report.
We announced the commencement of the risk analysis on 28 July 2023 (via Biosecurity Advice 2023-P05) and released the draft report for public consultation on 30 April 2024 (via Biosecurity Advice 2024-P02). Comments from stakeholders on the draft report were taken into consideration in preparing the final report.
This risk analysis was conducted in response to a formal market access request for fresh pomelo fruit to Australia from Vietnam.
The final report identifies 19 pests associated with pomelo from Vietnam that require risk management measures to reduce the biosecurity risk to an acceptable level. These pests are:
- psyllid: Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri)
- false spider mites: Brevipalpus phoenicis species complex
- fruit flies: carambola fruit fly (Bactrocera carambolae), guava fruit fly (Bactrocera correcta), Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis), peach fruit fly (Bactrocera zonata), melon fly (Zeugodacus cucurbitae) and pumpkin fruit fly (Zeugodacus tau)
- mealybugs: cocoa mealybug (Exallomochlus hispidus), coffee mealybug (Planococcus lilacinus) and fruit tree mealybug (Rastrococcus invadens)
- scale insects: tropical grey chaff scale (Parlatoria cinerea), black parlatoria scale (Parlatoria ziziphi) and mulberry scale (Pseudaulacaspis pentagona)
- spider mites: citrus red mite (Panonychus citri) and Kanzawa spider mite (Tetranychus kanzawai)
- thrips: chilli thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis) and onion thrips (Thrips tabaci)
- bacterium: citrus canker (Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri).
The final report recommends risk management measures, combined with an operational system, to ensure biosecurity standards are met.
The recommended risk management measures, together with the operational system, will reduce the risks posed by the 19 identified pests to achieve the appropriate level of protection for Australia. These measures are:
- for Asian citrus psyllid
- pest free areas, pest free places of production or pest free production sites; or
- a systems approach considered to be effective in mitigating the risk of this psyllid on pomelo fruit, and approved by the department; or
- fruit treatment considered to be effective against psyllids, such as methyl bromide fumigation
- for fruit flies
- pest free areas, pest free places of production or pest free production sites; or
- fruit treatment considered to be effective against fruit flies such as irradiation
- for false spider mites, mealybugs, scale insects, spider mite and thrips
- pre-export visual inspection, and if found, remedial action
- for citrus canker
- a systems approach considered to be effective in mitigating the risk of this pathogen on pomelo fruit, and approved by the department.
The final report was approved for publication on 27 March 2025. More information about this risk analysis is available on our website.
We invite stakeholders interested in receiving information and updates on biosecurity risk analyses to subscribe via our online subscription service. By subscribing to ‘Biosecurity Risk Analysis Plant’, you will receive Biosecurity Advices and other notifications relating to plant biosecurity policy, including this risk analysis.
Peter Finnin
A/g First Assistant Secretary
Biosecurity Plant and Science Services Division
Telephone: 1800 900 090 (when prompted select option 1, then option 1)
Email: imports@aff.gov.au