The Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) is upbeat about the prospects of growing SA citrus exports to the UK in light of Brexit. CEO Justin Chadwick said the country could stand to benefit from the removal of tariffs. “We already export about 10% of our product to the UK, and soft citrus is about 40%, so it is a big market. I don’t think we would necessarily send any more volume to the UK because we don’t compete with the EU producers’ seasons,” he said. “If there is a hard Brexit and the UK leaves the EU with no agreement then the UK should possibly over time be able to determine their own plant health regulations – but we don’t expect that in the short term. There is also no reason for the UK to keep tariffs in place because they don’t have a domestic citrus industry,” he said.
