The Citrus Growers Association (CGA) says new European Union cold treatment regulations for oranges could see 3.2 million cartons of South African citrus fruit currently headed to the region worth more than R600 million being destroyed by authorities.
Deon Joubert, CGA special envoy for market access and EU matters, says the regulations were published in the Official Journal of the EU on 21 June, and despite several objections will be effective from 14 July.
"The fact that authorities are trying to enforce these new regulations a mere 23 days after publication, making it impossible for South African growers to comply, highlights how unjustified and discriminatory this legislation is, with European consumers and local rural workers ultimately paying the price," says Joubert.
In a statement issued on Monday, CGA said the EU Standing Committee on Plant, Animal, Food and Feed published the new regulations in a bid to address interceptions of false codling moth (FCM)- a native citrus pest in South Africa - from southern African orange exports.
According to Joubert, the regulations require imports of citrus fruit to undergo specified mandatory cold treatment processes and precooling steps for specific periods, including up to 25 days of cold treatment, before shipping and subsequent importation.
"Most critically, local citrus growers currently export 800 000 tonnes of high-quality citrus fruit to the EU annually, yet FCM interceptions have been consistently low over the past three years," he says, adding that there were 19 interceptions in 2019, 14 in 2020 and 15 in 2021.
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