This decision comes with just a month left of the current export season.

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The organisation’s CEO, Justin Chadwick, explains that the decision was made in relation to the ten Citrus Black Spot (CBS) notifications of non-compliance on South African citrus detected during this season.

The decision only impacts Valencia oranges from CBS areas, and it is done in order to ensure that South Africa’s CBS risk mitigation system works effectively, says Chadwick.

“It is a difficult decision because we all know that growers in 2022 are facing hard economic conditions. Input prices such as fertilizer, fuel, etc. have increased dramatically in 2022, and added to that, the freight rates in terms of shipping to markets have also risen to heights that we’ve never seen before.”

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Chadwick says that at the moment, the prediction is standing at about 167 million (15 kg) cartons, which is 3.3 million cartons less than what was predicted at the start of the season.

“The market closure will be rolled out in a staggered approach, with the last day of inspections on Valencia’s in the northern regions being on the 16th of September, while the Gamtoos Valley (Patensie), East Cape Midlands, and Sundays River Valley will close inspections on the 23rd September 2022. Mandarins, grapefruit, lemons, and navels from CBS-free areas will not be affected.

“While this closure will serve as another blow to growers who have faced one of the most challenging seasons to date, continued access to the EU market over the longer term must be prioritised,” the CGA further adds in a statement released on 7 September 2022.

The EU’s new phytosanitary regulations

This announcement follows after the CGA had been hit with new phytosanitary regulations from the EU due to fears of False Codling Moth (FCM). These regulations had an impact on the South African citrus industry’s ability to export effectively to the EU markets.

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The EU’s new regulations were published on 21 June 2022 and entered into force on 14 July 2022.

OFM News spoke to Deon Joubert, special envoy responsible for market access and EU matters at the CGA, who stated that there are existing plant health regulations in place between the EU and South Africa called the False Codling Moth Risk Management System (FMS), which was quite successful previously seeing over 90% of the country’s citrus consignment arriving safely in the EU and without issue.

The regulations included new cold storage requirements on South Africa exports, which Joubert labeled as "unnecessary and disproportionate”. 

He told OFM News that the EU’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed should have provided at least a six-month period before these regulations come into force. At the time of the announcement of the new regulations, South Africa already had hundreds of containers full of oranges en route to the EU. This was a major concern.

However, this matter was resolved and the Department of Agriculture confirmed that it has negotiated a settlement that cleared South African citrus containers stuck in ports of entry in the EU in August 2022.

OFM News