FINLAND TO IMPOSE SOLID-WOOD PACKING RULES

FINLAND TO IMPOSE SOLID-WOOD PACKING RULES    The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has announced that Finland will implement solid-wood packing material rules for cargo starting May 31.
   Finland said it wants to prevent coniferous solid-wood packing materials contaminated with pinewood nemotode from entering the country from the United States, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Canada and Mexico.
   APHIS representatives traveled to Finland to try to dissuade the country from imposing phyto-sanitary certificates on U.S. shippers, but failed.
   “It's extremely difficult to comply without disrupting a multibillion-dollar trade between out two countries,” said Parul Patel, national phyto-sanitary export program manager at APHIS, regarding the new solid-wood packing rules.
   APHIS did manage to persuade the Finnish government not to reject entry of shipments without the certificate. But shippers may have to destroy or re-export infested packing material.
   The agency said that pinewood nemotode in shipments can be avoided by stripping bark from wood or through heat treatment. Other countries to implement similar rules in the past year also include China and Russia.