Alerts

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has identified a recent publication which reports the presence of Xylella fastidiosa (Xylella) in walnut trees in the People’s Republic of China:

• Guo, T, Wang, S, Pan, C, Sattar, A, Xing, C, Hao, H & Zhang, C, 2024, ‘Evidence of the involvement of Xylella fastidiosa in the occurrence of walnut leaf scorch in Xinjiang, China’, Plant Disease, available at: https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-07-23-1430-PDN.

In response to this information, the department is assessing available information to confirm the status of Xylella in China, and whether additional regulatory measures are required to manage the biosecurity risk of imported host nursery stock.

Xylella is Australia‘s highest National Priority Plant Pest (NPPP), and the department continues to be vigilant in responding to new information that could indicate a change to Xylella’s global risk profile.

We will continue to update importers and industry stakeholders as we finalise our review. Any proposed changes to import conditions will be published through additional BICON Alerts, and communicated to permit holders before they are implemented. This includes information on how the proposed changes will affect consignments that are in transit to Australia.

Import permits:
Existing import permit applications for Xylella host tissue culture and non-tissue culture plants will not be processed, or import permits granted, until the department’s assessment of China’s Xylella status concludes.

How can you keep updated:
Keep updated by subscribing to any nursery stock BICON case, using these instructions.

Background:

• As Australia’s highest ranked NPPP, Xylella is known to cause significant disease in a range of host plants including grape, oak, almond, plum, forestry and amenity trees, olive, pecans, citrus, and other hardwood trees. For example, if introduced to Australia it is estimated that Xylella has the potential to cost our grape and wine industry $7.9 billion over 50 years.
• The bacterium has spread from the Americas to Europe with recent detections in France and Italy and would be very difficult to eradicate if introduced to Australia.
• Many plant species show no symptoms when they are infected, and many are traded internationally as propagative material. Some insects in Australia are likely to be able to transmit the bacterium.
• Australia currently has biosecurity requirements for many nursery stock plant species that could carry Xylella. Emergency measures for Xylella were introduced in 2015 to manage the risk of this bacterium due to an increasing global distribution and recorded host range. The department has continued to invest significant effort to monitor, review and respond to evolving risks and new reports of novel pathways, new hosts and affected countries to ensure that import regulations remain fit-for-purpose, effective and consistent with current scientific information.
• Countries currently regulated as high risk for Xylella by the department include all countries in the Americas (including the Caribbean), all countries in Europe, India, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Taiwan, and Türkiye. China has been recognised as free from Xylella under current measures on the basis that freedom status was achieved, and notified, by China in 2015 and subsequently reaffirmed in 2021.
• Interested in finding out more about Xylella? Read about it here: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/pests-diseases-weeds/plant/xylella.

Who does this notice affect:
This notice affects importers of live plants (nursery stock) from China, customs brokers and departmental staff.

Further information:
Please contact Plant Import Operations on 1800 900 090 or email imports@aff.gov.au (please title the subject line of the email ‘Plant T2 – Xylella in China’).