Meeting of the Expert Working Group on Pest Risk Analysis for the apple buprestid, Agrilus mali

Paris, 2023-05/30-06/02

The Expert Working Group on Pest Risk Analysis for the apple buprestid, Agrilus mali had its 4-day meeting in Paris on May 30 to June 02, 2023. As usual, the working group included both experts from the native range of the pest (China and Russia) and experts from the EPPO region (this time from Germany, Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom, and Spain).

The pest is native to the Eastern part of Asia (Northeastern China, Russian East Siberia and Far East, Eastern Mongolia, and Korean peninsula). In Northeastern China, A. mali was considered a sporadic pest in the major apple production areas (e.g. Shaanxi and Shandong). In 1993, it was discovered in Northwestern China, in an apple (Malus domestica) orchard in Xinyan county (Xinjiang), and since then it rapidly spread in wild apple (Malus sieversii) forests in the Yili Valley of the Tianshan Mountains. In this area, extensive mortality of wild apple trees has been reported. Considering the potential damage A. mali could cause to Malus spp. and possibly other Rosaceae species that have been recorded as hosts, the EPPO Panel on Phytosanitary Measures in 2020 recommended to include this pest in the EPPO Alert List. In May 2022, the Panel on Phytosanitary Measures suggested A. mali as one of the priorities for PRA, and the EPPO Working Party on Phytosanitary Regulations selected it for PRA in June 2022.