South Africa challenges EU on citrus export restrictions
South Africa has taken a preliminary step toward filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the European Union (EU) over its treatment of citrus imports from the country, people familiar with the situation said.
Two years ago, the EU imposed requirements for additional refrigeration of incoming fruit from South Africa, which lags behind only Spain as an exporter of the produce, to combat incidences of Citrus Black Spot, a fungal disease that leaves dark spots on fruit, and false codling moth, a pest found in South African orchards. Last year South Africa shipped $644 million of citrus such as oranges, lemons, grapefruit and mandarins to the EU, according to the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa.
The EU’s moves increased costs and slashed shipments from South Africa, which competes with Spain for the citrus market. The African nation maintains that citrus black spot, while causing blemishes on the fruit skin, doesn’t affect the quality. It has also said that shipments to Europe have been falsely classified as being tainted with the disease.
The EU has now been sent an official demand for consultations with South Africa over the measures that will be overseen by the WTO, the people said, asking not to be identified as a public statement is yet to be made. This is a step toward filing a case.
The dispute dates back to July 2022 with the Citrus Growers Association of Southern Africa last year saying that it would cost the industry over R500-million in lost exports as it couldn’t access enough specialized refrigerated containers in time to get the fruit to the European market.
South Africa’s trade department, the EU mission to South Africa and the WTO acknowledged requests for comment but are yet to respond.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Supplier & Distributor of the Widest Range of Accurate & Easy-to-Use Alcohol Breathalysers
VISIT SHOWROOM
Education: Consulting with member companies to obtain the optimal benefits from their B-BBEE spending, skills resources as well as B-BBEE points
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
