“China is our second largest agricultural trade partner and the ban was negatively impacting both Virginia’s exporters and our valued customers in China,” said Gov. Bob McDonnell as he announced the pilot program. “My administration will continue working with all involved parties to see that this pilot program is successful and eventually leads to full open market access.”
While technical details are still being finalized, Virginia logs will be allowed to re-enter China beginning June 1 via certain designated ports and with enhanced pest treatment and testing protocols under the terms of the pilot program.
In April 2011, China banned both hardwood and softwood log exports from Virginia and South Carolina, citing pest interceptions on logs exported from the United States. For the past year, the governor and the secretaries from the Commonwealth’s departments of Agriculture & Forestry and Agriculture and Consumer Services have worked to resolve the issue.
During a trade mission to Asia in May 2011, McDonnell met with Chinese commerce and agricultural officials to discuss possible solutions to the ban. At that meeting he invited technical experts from China to visit Virginia to see first-hand how logs are harvested, inventoried, and undergo treatment or testing to prevent the unintended transport of pest organisms.
In April, a delegation from China’s Inspection and Quarantine Bureau arrived in Virginia to examine the quality, safety and security of log exports from Virginia. Working together with staff from USDA, the Virginia Port Authority and members of private industry, the Commonwealth demonstrated the effectiveness of treatment, tracking and inspection protocols in place to guard against unwanted pests being transported in log shipments.
“It was a pretty quick turnaround from the time the Chinese delegation was here to the time we got the answer,” said VPA Executive Director Jerry A. Bridges. “We have all the necessary processes in place for safe export of this cargo. If it goes well for six months, as we suspect it will, we will start to recapture this business.”
In 2011 the value of Virginia’s log exports was estimated at nearly $57 million, down $10 million from 2010. Prior to the ban, Virginia was a major East Coast supplier of logs to China, the world’s largest log importer.