The South African government has vowed to “fight tooth and nail” to avert a possible European Union (EU) ban on citrus imports from the country, according to trade and industry minister Rob Davies – a move that has been welcomed by the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) of Southern Africa. “Support from the department of trade and industry (dti) in sorting out the dispute regarding the actual risk of citrus black spot (CBS) is essential as a longer-term solution. We cannot continue to have additional measures imposed every year. Eventually the costs and disruptions will result in an unviable market,” said CGA chief executive, Justin Chadwick. This after a consignment of lemons with CBS was intercepted at the Port of Rotterdam earlier this month, prompting the EU to call on South Africa to tighten up its risk management system as the interception seems to indicate to the EU that the system failed in this particular case. Dutch authorities for plant health issued a notification of phyto-sanitary noncompliance after intercepting the consignment which means that citrus imports from South Africa are now on a trade watch list at EU borders. The threat of a ban is now a step closer as the EU has decided that if more than a certain amount of contaminated exports are found, South African citrus fruit will be locked out of the economic zone. According to the dti, in 2013 about 70% of oranges sold in Europe came from South Africa. At a media briefing last week, Davies said that SA would use “whatever tools it had” to defend its interests. He noted that Europe’s reluctance to compromise on the CBS issue could be devastating for the R8-billion local citrus industry. Department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries (Daff) chief director: stakeholder relations and communications, Makenosi Maroo, told FTW that South Africa had gone to “great lengths and expense” to ensure compliance and that other fruit types in the export line from the farm whose consignment was intercepted had been identified and would be “dealt with accordingly”. “An investigation has been launched by Daff in collaboration with the industry to determine the possible causes for the presence of CBS. Based on the findings, remedial measures will be implemented as appropriate,” she said. Maroo also noted that additional risk measures had been introduced, effective last week Thursday (July 24), that included pre-export sampling and inspection requirements. Furthermore all Valencia oranges to be exported must be subjected to a chemical symptom expression test. Chadwick said that CGA was awaiting a report from its own representative who last week visited the farm from which the consignment originated. The representative was accompanied by Daff and Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB) officials. Meanwhile, the producer of the contaminated fruit has been deregistered as an exporter and will remain so until he can prove – via an expert report – that he has taken appropriate steps to ensure the problem with the risk management system has been rectified, said Chadwick. CAPTION Citrus black spot on a South African Eureka lemon. Workers on a Sundays Organic Growers' Association (Soga) citrus farm in the Sundays Valley, Eastern Cape. Photo: Soga INSERT & CAPTION Eventually the costs and disruptions will result in an unviable market. – Justin Chadwick
