THE release, on an urgent basis, of containers stuck at EU ports will not resolve the massive ongoing threat to the citrus industry. This, according to Deon Joubert, Citrus Growers Association (CGA) Special Envoy to the EU on Market Access.
This situation arises against the background of the CGA which has been engaging with the national Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (Dalrrd) on a daily basis to ensure that the containers, currently detained at EU ports, are released on an urgent basis.
In June, the EU Standing Committee on Plant, Animal, Food and Feed published what the industry called “drastic, and arguably misinformed” new regulations requiring the cold treatment for oranges heading to the region as a means to address False Codling Moth (FCM) interceptions from Southern African orange exports.
The CGA said yesterday the department had committed to issuing new phyto-sanitary certificates, which should hopefully result in the majority of these containers being released in the next few days.
Joubert said their initial estimates indicated that 1 350 containers (floating consignments) would be affected by the implementation of the new EU FCM regulations.
“Our latest reports would indicate that of this amount, 820 containers will be issued new phytos. Dalrrd, through their spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo, estimates that of these, only 300 containers have received their replacement phytos. This will hopefully provide relief over the short-term to local growers,” he said.
However, the association said this intervention did not resolve the threat to the industry, should the long-term implementation of the EU FCM regulation on South African oranges.
“To date, the current impasse has cost local citrus growers over R200 million in losses. The CGA can also confirm that growers will more than likely also receive half their expected returns on any fruit that is released, due to the fact that most containers have been standing for a few weeks, and have therefore missed their programmes due to late arrival,” Joubert said.
At the end of July, Dr Marlene Louw, a senior economist at Absa AgriBusiness, told Business Report that the fast and coordinated response by CGA and Dalrrd and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition should be commended as it was vital for the ongoing success of the industry that local current export markets remained accessible.
“This trade measure comes at a time when the industry is already under pressure due to high input and shipping costs, shipping delays and labour unrest. The pace at which the FCM trade measure has been ratified and implemented also makes the blow to the industry that much harder as there was limited time to make adjustments,” Louw said then.
South African government since then had lodged a World Trade Organisation dispute requesting consultation to address EU measures affecting local citrus imports.
BUSINESS REPORT