WASHINGTON, May 12, 2006- Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that wheat shipments from California to Mexico have resumed after a 10-year ban due to Karnal bunt.

"I'm pleased that Mexico has opened its market to California wheat," said Johanns. "Mexico's action supports science as the language for international trade. While governments need import measures that safeguard crops from disease, import regulations should be based on internationally recognized scientific guidelines."

Mexico banned wheat from the southwestern United States after the first detection of Karnal bunt in Arizona in 1996. In June 2005, the United States and Mexico agreed to recognize certain wheat-producing areas in California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico as free of Karnal bunt, with the exception of those areas still regulated by USDA because of the disease. As part of the agreement, the United States now recognizes five Mexican states as meeting the requirements for Karnal bunt-free status.

Mexico ranks as the United States' third largest foreign market for wheat, setting record-high sales of $459 million in 2004. California's first shipment to Mexico, which departed on May 5, is 7,500 metric tons and is valued at approximately $2 million.

Karnal bunt is a fungal disease of wheat, durum wheat and triticale, a hybrid of wheat and rye, and is spread primarily through the movement of infected seed.

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