IPPC takes big step towards applying commodity standards for mango fruit trade

Tokyo, 23 January 2023. With fresh mango fruit being widely traded across the globe, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) convenes a technical panel of experts to develop harmonized standards to facilitate the safe and consistent trade of fresh mangoes. ''Without phytosanitary measures in place, mango fruits are at greater risk of carrying plant pests associated with its movement including fruit flies, fruit boring moths, beetles and mealybugs", said Osama El-Lissy, IPPC Secretary.

The newly established IPPC Technical Panel on Commodity Standards, at a recently held week-long meeting, noted that plant health officials from importing and exporting countries should consider the list of pests as well as the options for phytosanitary measures including those that will help reduce pest risk. The International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM) 46 outlines the standards for specific commodities, particularly guidance in the international trade of fresh mangoes contained under Specification 73.

At the meeting in Tokyo last week, the technical panel began developing the draft text for the specific standard on mango fresh fruits, based on Specification 73, and discussed the criteria to be included in the measures under this specification. The panel also discussed information received from an IPPC call for materials on mango fruits, particularly on existing pest risk analysis and phytosanitary measures, regional and national standards and relevant pests and phytosanitary measures.

Mangoes (Mangifera indica) are the second fastest growing commodity group along with mangosteen and guava in 2020, behind avocadoes, according to the latest data from the Food and Agriculture Organization. In 2020, mangoes accounted for 2.2 million tonnes of global exports of tropical fruits and made up nearly 90 percent of global shipments. Global exports of mango (and guava and mangosteen as in the group commodity category in the global market) rose to an estimated 2.3 million tonnes in 2021, an increase of three percent from 2020.

With increasing global demand for fresh mangoes, the commodity was suitable to be included as annex to ISPM 46 and thus, was included in the IPPC work programme by its contracting parties. Adopting specific commodity standards, along with harmonized phytosanitary measures, is seen to facilitate and accelerate trade negotiations and simplify safe trade in plant products, including important agricultural products and crops. These standards are recognized as the basis for phytosanitary measures that are applied in trade by members of the World Trade Organization.