Discrimination against SA’s citrus?

South Africa recently announced an official consultation with the EU and the World Trade Organization regarding the former’s phytosanitary trade regulations for citrus (see story on page 17). The action specifically regards the EU’s regulations in terms of citrus black spot, a fungal infection of citrus fruit. According to the EU, the regulations are also aimed at preventing the spread of false codling moth, a more severe threat for citrus, in my opinion. I previously wrote about the regulations introduced by the EU against South African citrus imports following the initial implementation of these regulations in June 2022. Carla Espinoza Gutiérrez for Freshfruitportal.com reported that in November 2023, the Spanish Interprofessional Citrus Organization (Intercitrus) reported a supposed “record” 21 rejected South African imports due to citrus black spotting. Then, she writes, “[...] in July 2023, two moth specimens were found in mandarin and grapefruit containers coming from South Africa. Another three were confirmed in orange and mandarin shipments in 2022.”

The specific regulations involve a spraying programme and inspections at orchards and packhouses that are costing farmers a significant amount of money.

“Since 2023, exporters [such as South Africa] have had two options: either cold treatment between [-1°C and 0°C] for 16 days or between [-1°C and 2°C] for 20 days. In both cases, operators will be required to pre-cool at [0°C and 2°C], respectively,” wrote Gutiérrez.

According to Gutiérrez, Inmaculada Sanfeliu, president of Intercitrus, said in August 2023 that the current regulations were “insufficient” for the “main non-EU citrus supplier to the EU” to “stop [the] exporting of this dangerous pest”.

The Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA) has described the EU’s regulations as “unfair” and “discriminatory”. And I think the CGA makes a good point here. South Africa is one of the world’s leading citrus exporters, and competes directly with Spain in terms of the EU market. Spain and Spanish farmers’ organisations have been leading voices in the campaign against the so-called spread of citrus black spot by South African-produced citrus. In this case, it absolutely seems to me like uncompetitive behaviour from Spain and the EU, and is definitely something that needs to be investigated (and should already have been investigated) by the World Trade Organization.

I hope the most recent action by government and the CGA will lead to some sort of dispute resolution for South African citrus farmers and exporters. Our farmers are some of the best in the world, and the traceability of citrus trees and produce in the country is of an incredibly high standard. If these regulations must apply to South Africa, they must similarly apply to producers within the EU, considering our standards are arguably even higher than those to whom we are exporting.

This dispute should also shine a light on other similar unfair trade practices imposed on African countries by Western countries. There certainly seems to be an international bias against Africa by some of these countries when it comes to agricultural exports, and while this may be warranted in some instances, this is certainly not the case when it comes to South African citrus.