What is the new South Africa EU phytosanitary conflict?
Trade: Tons of citrus threatened with destruction because of a conflict between the EU and South Africa.
South Africa filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization when the EU introduced new phytosanitary requirements.
The fruits will not survive the conflict. While South Africa and the European Union are clashing in a trade battle over import rules, tons of oranges are rotting in containers blocked in European ports and thus risk destruction.
South Africa, the world's second-largest exporter of fresh citrus fruits after Spain, filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) last month when the EU introduced new phytosanitary requirements that producers say threaten their survival.
South Africa EU phytosanitary conflict
The measures came into force in July when ships carrying hundreds of containers full of South African fruit bound for Europe were already at sea, which led to their blocking on arrival, according to the South African citrus growers association (CGA). "It's a complete and absolute disaster," CGA CEO Justin Chadwick told AFP. "Exceptional quality food, which poses no risk, vegetates there ... It's really a disaster".
The EU rules are aimed at combating the potential spread of the false codling moth, an African parasite that has a soft spot for oranges and grapefruits. The EU requires all oranges destined for European tables to be treated with extreme cold and kept at temperatures below or equal to two degrees Celsius for twenty-five days, which, according to South African producers, is not necessary, as the country already has more targeted means to prevent the infestation.
In its complaint to the WTO, South Africa argues that the EU's requirements are "not based on scientific data", that they are "discriminatory" and excessive. And they put additional stress on an already proven sector. "This will add costs. And at the moment, this is what no producer in the world can afford," says Hannes de Waal, who runs the almost century-old Sundays River Citrus farm (south-east).
Europe is the largest market for South African citrus fruits, which weigh almost two billion euros and account for 37% of exports, according to the CGA. The sector employs more than 120,000 people in a country where more than one in three people is unemployed. The new rules, which came at the height of the orange season, took producers by surprise. Some 3.2 million boxes of citrus fruits worth about 35 million euros left with papers that became invalid on arrival.
South Africa EU phytosanitary conflict details
The South African government rushed to issue new documents for shipments meeting the new criteria, but hundreds of containers had to be destroyed, according to Mr Chadwick. "The system already in place at home involves cold treatment, but targeted at risk, while the EU measure is a general measure that concerns all oranges," says Mr Chadwick. The dispute is now in the hands of the WTO. The parties have 60 days to negotiate a solution. Failing this, the complainant may request arbitration by a panel.
South Africa EU phytosanitary conflict comments
- it seems to me that they did not fall out of the blue... given the time for each European regulation and standard to be decided and then put in place, this could not be a surprise and the date of application cannot be a surprise either.. no, the bottom line is that they don't want to apply this standard because of "additional costs for its part, the EU can easily argue that it has already found itself the target of invasive species enough and that it wants to do prevention... unless the South African exporters agree to guarantee compensation if this species arrives in Europe? no doubt, they will then challenge their responsibility in the manner of cigarette manufacturers regarding cancers or actors in the oil sector regarding climate change...
- Inadmissible when citrus fruits and vegetables increase faster than pension incomes, smicards. It will be necessary to make a choice eat or pay for most people
- so you must not be part of any of these categories because personally I am one of them and I do not notice this unless we are not in the same country?
