Florida plans citrus delivery into China

A state official's symbolic trip with 10 boxes of Florida citrus comes as China officially opens its market.

By WILLIAM YARDLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 23, 2000

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida will send its first load of oranges and grapefruit to China this weekend, hand-delivered by Agriculture Commissioner Bob Crawford.

Acting on a trade agreement signed a year ago, China late Tuesday announced new rules that allow it to immediately begin importing citrus from Florida and California. The move means that Florida's 14,000 citrus growers -- producers of nearly 80 percent of U.S. citrus -- will have a new market of 1.2-billion Chinese consumers.

"They're voracious citrus consumers," Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday, "and there are a large number of them."

Crawford plans to fly to Beijing this weekend to deliver 10 symbolic boxes of citrus, signed by Bush, to Chinese government leaders. Two weeks later, Crawford said, the first major shipment of Florida citrus, worth about $40,000, will leave Indian River County and arrive in China within 30 days.

Crawford said market studies indicate about 300-million Chinese could be "strong potential customers for our citrus products."

Within five years, he predicted, Florida will get the majority of as much as $500-million in anticipated U.S. citrus exports to China. "We're way ahead of any state for shipments. We already have a lot of commitments in China to buy Florida citrus."

Republican state Rep. Adam Putnam, a citrus grower from Bartow, said the announcement "is one of the most exciting developments in the last half-century in the citrus industry."

The deal, which involves fresh fruit, not juice, likely will have the most dramatic impact on sales of grapefruit.

"It's considered a delicacy (in China), a very healthy fruit," said Andy LaVigne, executive vice president of Florida Citrus Mutual, an association of growers based in Lakeland. "It is the greatest opportunity, especially for our grapefruit growers, that we've had in a long time."

LaVigne said it could be 10 years before Florida growers realize the full potential of the Chinese citrus market. Getting fruit to Chinese ports is only the first step, he said. Differences in packaging, shipping and distribution methods could take time to reconcile.

LaVigne also said that high import tariffs in China will make the fruit expensive. If China is welcomed into the World Trade Organization, those tariffs could fall from about 40 percent to about 14 percent.

Bush, whose brother, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, is expected to be the Republican presidential nominee this fall, made a point of praising President Clinton for expanding free trade with nations such as China. Bush said it was important for the United States to use its "moral position" to influence China, which is often criticized for human rights violations, but that it could not "ignore the awesome market" there.

Free trade, Bush said, "is a place where I think he (Clinton) can legitimately say he has a legacy."

Last spring, China agreed to end a ban on U.S. citrus and ease restrictions on meat, poultry and wheat. But it did not allow importation of citrus until Tuesday, two months after Chinese inspectors visited processing plants in Florida and California.

The Chinese inspectors were most concerned about citrus possibly being infected by Caribbean fruit flies. China agreed to purchase fruit from seven Florida counties -- Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Collier, Hendry and Lee -- that have preventive measures in place against fruit flies.

At an impromptu news conference Wednesday, Crawford displayed Chinese-language posters and T-shirts created by his department for advertisements in China. The posters feature several Chinese-American children, one wearing a Gap baseball cap and another wearing a Pokemon T-shirt. The message: "Eat Florida grapefruit. Healthy, Nutritious, Delicious."

LaVigne, of the citrus growers association, said industry officials had been working toward opening trade with China since 1993. Crawford and other state agriculture officials have traveled to China several times in recent years, and, last year, Crawford established an office of his agency in Beijing.

"Sometimes you wonder if you're on the right track," Crawford said, "but days like this make you feel like at least something's going good."

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