Pomelos from Vietnam

Public consultation on the draft report for our risk analysis for pomelo fruit from Vietnam for human consumption has now closed.

Risk analysis

When we do a risk analysis, we:

• review the science on pests and diseases of concern
• assess and analyse biosecurity risks
• develop proposed risk management measures, if required
• consult the public on the draft report and then review comments
• publish the final report
• verify that the country can meet the recommended risk management measures
• develop import conditions
• publish import conditions in our Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON).

About the risk analysis

We initiated this risk analysis because Vietnam requested market access for fresh pomelos. Learn more about why we carry out risk analyses and our international obligations.

This risk analysis is being conducted as a review of biosecurity import requirements. This is because we conducted an assessment of the potential pests associated with pomelos from Vietnam and found that:

• the pests of concern are the same, or of the same pest groups, as those pests that have been assessed previously for other horticultural goods. These pests include a psyllid, fruit flies, scale insects, mealybugs, thrips, spider mites, false spider mites and pathogens.
• appropriate risk management measures exist for these pests or pest groups.

Draft report

We released the draft report on 30 April 2024 for a 60-calendar day public consultation period, closing on 29 June 2024.

We proposed that the importation of commercially produced fresh pomelo fruit from Vietnam can be permitted provided they meet the biosecurity import conditions.

Pests

Nineteen pests associated with pomelo fruit from Vietnam 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).

Risk management measures

We proposed a range of measures to reduce the risk of these pests arriving in Australia via the fresh pomelo fruit pathway. 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 posed by 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.

Announcement

We announced the commencement of this risk analysis on 28 July 2023.

Trade

Australia-Vietnam trade

• Vietnam is an important trading partner of Australia. Vietnam is Australia’s 14th largest two-way trading partner in goods and services ($25.7 billion in 2022-23) and fourth largest market for agriculture, forestry and fisheries products ($5.2 billion in 2022-23).

Pomelo industry in Vietnam

• In 2020, Vietnam produced 903,200 tonnes of pomelos from a growing area of 105,800 hectares.
• Pomelo production in Vietnam is concentrated in the Mekong Delta, Northern Midlands and Mountainous, Red River Delta, South East and North Central Coast regions. Pomelos are harvested and exported year-round, with the peak harvest period between September and February.
• Most pomelos in Vietnam are consumed as fresh fruit in the domestic market, however fruit are also exported to a range of markets in the USA, Chile, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Pomelo industry in Australia

• Pomelos are a small but emerging segment of the Australian citrus industry. It is estimated there are 38.5 hectares of commercial pomelo orchards in Australia with annual production of around 1,000 tonnes.
• Pomelos are grown primarily in Far North Queensland, with smaller amounts grown in the Murray Valley region in New South Wales and Victoria, the South Australian Riverland region, and the Northern Territory.
• Australian producers currently focus on supplying the domestic market.

Pomelo fruit imports

Australia permits the import of fresh pomelos from the United States of America (USA), Israel, Spain and New Zealand. All imports must meet Australia’s biosecurity import conditions.

In the 5 years to 31 March 2024, Australia has imported fresh pomelo fruit from Israel (about 823 tonnes) and the USA (about 1061 tonnes).

Next steps

We are considering all comments we received on the draft report. Your feedback is helping to inform our final report.

We expect to release the final report by early 2025. Please note that this is an indicative timeline and may be subject to change.

After verifying that Vietnam can meet the recommended risk management measures in the final report, we will then develop import conditions. These will be published on our Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON).

Keep informed

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Contact us

For more information, email imports or phone 1800 900 090 (when prompted select option 1, then option 1).