Bob queries: define appreciable risk?
In my view, importing from Chile entails no risk, but then I haven't studied it closely. To the best of my knowledge, they have no pests that we do not already have.
What they don't have that Australia has: Apis cerana. What they don't have that northern Argentina, tropical America and Mexico have: African bees.
What they do have is a high quality bee industry and a season that lends itself to offering queens for sale when most US producers don't have them, like right now.
PLB
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