The Portuguese association of pear producers intends to exhibit at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai in November, Lusa reports.

The Portuguese news agency quotes the head of the association, Domingos dos Santos, as saying a party of Chinese visited the association this year to prepare the way.

The report says the association is trying to shorten the time it takes for the Chinese authorities to check that Portuguese pears are safe to import, and to set up a distribution network in China so its members can begin selling their fruit there by 2020.

The members expect to harvest about 200,000 tonnes of pears this year, about the same as last year, and to export 60 percent, notably to Brazil and Britain, Lusa quotes Mr dos Santos as saying.

In May the news agency quoted the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture as saying negotiations about opening the Chinese market to Portuguese of pears, grapes and citrus fruit were at an advanced stage.