USDA: CHINA TO REJECT UNTREATED U.S. SOLID WOOD-PACKED SHIPMENTS
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued a strong warning to U.S. exporters shipping solid wood-packing material to China: Treat it or risk having your cargo turned away by Chinese authorities.
China implemented new rules on Jan. 1 that require U.S. wood packing to be treated against pinewood nematode, a pest associated with pine wilt disease.
During the 60-day grace period, Chinese authorities would hold cargo that lacked proper certification until the information was supplied. The last shipments to be granted that flexibility left U.S. ports on March 1.
APHIS created special forms — the Certificate of Heat Treatment (Plant Protection and Quarantine Form 553) — for U.S. shippers to comply with China’s new rules for heat-treating wood-packed shipments. The shipper should fill out this form and take it to a local USDA bureau or state cooperator office for endorsement. The form is available at APHIS’s Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/chinaswp/hotbutton .
Heat-treating the wood to 56 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes will destroy pinewood nematode. The pest may also be eradicated by kiln drying wood packing.
If no wood packing material is present, the shipper should self-certify the shipment by attaching a signed statement on company letterhead to the bill of lading, stating “There is no solid wood packing material in this shipment.”
Shippers are also encouraged to attach a copy of the Chinese declaration of no solid-wood packing material available on the APHIS Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/chinaswp/nowood.html . Chinese officials developed these statements to assist in cargo clearance.
If there’s solid-wood packing in the shipment, but it is not from coniferous trees, the shipper can self-certify by stating on its bill of lading and/or invoice: “The solid wood packing material in this shipment is not coniferous wood.”
APHIS says shippers should attach a copy of the Chinese declaration on non-coniferous wood-packing material, which is available on the APHIS Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/chinaswp/nonconifer.html . Chinese officials also helped to develop this statement to assist in cargo clearance, APHIS said.