SA citrus exports encounter another roadblock

South African citrus producers are about to be hit by another roadblock, this time affecting exports to Russia. Technical regulations for food production labelling, introduced by the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), will come into force for the SA fruit industry on Sunday, February 15.

Fruit industry news service, Fresh Plaza, reports that it is not operationally feasible to carry out the EAC labelling requirements without destroying the pallets that have been prepared for long seafreight journeys. Neither is it possible to stick labels on cartons at packing houses as the fruits are packed for export without correlation to a specific market.
About a quarter of all oranges in the Russian market are imported from South Africa as the country has become Russia’s main supplier of citrus fruit.

Russian fruit information portal, Fruitnews.info, cited the head of the food and agriculture department of the Russia-RSA Business Council, Mikhail Fateev, as saying: “In the 20 years since we’ve opened trade between Russia and South Africa there has not been a single claim presented to South African suppliers on phytosanitary or food safety grounds.”

He added that Russia currently received about 12% of all fruits exported by South Africa.