XML parse error: Category tag exists but is not parsed

Question

I have this products xml which is exported from a website (sample):

<STOREITEMS>
    <created_at><![CDATA[2018-11-15 11:35]]></created_at>
    <products>
        <product>
            <id><![CDATA[309]]></id>
            <name><![CDATA[Product name]]></name>
            <link><![CDATA[product link]]></link>

            <image  ><![CDATA[image link]]></image>

            <category  id="145"  ><![CDATA[cat > subcat1 > subcat2]]></category>
             <price><![CDATA[6.60]]></price>
             <manufacturer><![CDATA[Manuf]]></manufacturer>
             <description><![CDATA[description]]></description>
             <mpn><![CDATA[520032]]></mpn>
             <ean><![CDATA[520032]]></ean>
             <instock><![CDATA[Y]]></instock>
             <availability><![CDATA[In stock]]></availability>
             <shipping> </shipping>
        </product>
        ........

Where tag is there. But when I use a xml data feed validator it doesn't parse the tag, but it is available for manual mapping in the dropdown menu. How I can fix that? dropdown menu