Chicago, Jan 26 - U.S. rice exports to Mexico have resumed, after being held up for six weeks over concerns about a fungal disease, but all unprocessed rice shipments must now be fumigated, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday.
Mexico, the No. 1 export destination for U.S. rice, never closed its border to U.S. shipments, but trade came to a virtual standstill because of Mexico's concerns about a crop disease that the United States views as insignificant.
All shipments of U.S. rice bound for Mexico must now be fumigated with methyl bromide, in case they contain a fungal disease called false smut, said Melissa O'Dell, spokeswoman for USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services.
USA Rice Federation, a trade group based in Washington, said it should not be necessary to fumigate U.S. rice because false smut is found throughout the United States and Mexico.
"It's an outcome that's positive, because it allows the trade to resume," Bob Cummings, senior vice president of USA Rice Federation, said. "Longer term, we would like the fumigation requirement to be taken off."
MEXICO WANTS FUMIGATION - FOR NOW
Mexico's National Rice Union, an umbrella group for the country's rice industry, said the fumigations were a measure to prevent future holdups and could last for at least a month.
Rice shipments, once fumigated, will be held for 24 hours and then allowed to enter Mexico, Pedro Diaz, head of the union, which represents both importers and exporters, told Reuters.
False smut is not harmful when consumed by humans, but it could harm local rice crops, Diaz said.
"What we want to prevent is the contamination of Mexican crops," he said.
USA Rice and APHIS said the fungus that causes the disease is already widespread in Mexico and, therefore, unfumigated U.S. shipments pose no risk.
Mexico is open to working with its U.S. counterparts to study whether the fungus is present in Mexican crops, O'Dell of the USDA's APHIS said.
If the survey finds the fungus, Mexico is open to changing its new protocol, O'Dell said.
Mexico produces more than 300,000 tonnes of rice and imports some 750,000 tonnes, almost all from the United States, she said.
Mexico halted 85 rail cars carrying rice on Dec. 8 at Nuevo Laredo in Mexico.
Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade <RRH9> were up 0.35 percent at midday on Friday at $12.74 per hundredweight. Rice was following rallies in other grains and was not lifted significantly by the resumption of trade with Mexico, rice traders said.