Fresh Apples: export from Canada to ASEAN

Fresh apples are a logistics-sensitive trade where the question buyers most often fail to ask is storage history, not harvest date. An apple's remaining shelf life is a function of how it has been held (controlled atmosphere storage extends it dramatically, ordinary cold storage does not) and two apples from the same harvest can have very different remaining lives.

Variety selection should follow destination consumer preference rather than Canadian popularity. Sweetness, crispness and skin colour expectations differ substantially between markets, and a variety that leads at home can sit unsold where the texture preference runs the other way.

The specification points are variety, size count, colour grade, firmness at dispatch and storage history.

Canadian production centres on Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Nova Scotia with variety mix differing by region. Confirm the destination's phytosanitary requirements early, since fresh produce controls are frequently the binding constraint.

Fresh fruit classification is usually straightforward, but phytosanitary requirements rather than duty are the binding constraint on this route. Confirm the destination's plant health requirements first, then the tariff position.