South African citrus producers will voluntarily suspend
exports to the European Union in order to comply with EU standards.
This is against a fungal disease infecting the skin of some of
their fruit, an industry body said on Monday.
The Citrus Growers Association of Southern Africa said sales to
the lucrative market that usually takes up nearly half of its exports would
fall by 15 per cent this year because of its action against the citrus black
spot (CBS) disease.
The body said that although the small spots on the peel of some
fruit were only a cosmetic problem, it would not insist on exports so as to
continue accessing its key market in 2015.
"We don't want this to become an escalation of trade issues,
so we have voluntarily stopped that," said Deon Joubert, an EU
representative for the South African growers' body.
Farmers would forego fruit exports worth 500 million rand (46.5
million US dollars) and had incurred additional spraying costs of480 million
rand this year, Joubert said.
About 45 per cent of South Africa's 8 billion rand-a-year citrus
exports end up in the EU, but the presence of the fungus in some shipments to
the bloc led to a ban of lemons, oranges and tangerines late last year.
South Africa is the main source of oranges for the juice drunk
by consumers in Britain, Germany and France during Europe’s summer, but
southern European growers fear the fungus could take hold in their citrus
groves should that fruit continue accessing its market.
The African producers maintain fruits cannot transfer the
disease and say banning their fruit from all EU countries is unfair because
there are no citrus groves in northern Europe due to the colder climate,
meaning there was no risk from the fungus.
Not all South African growing regions suffer from the disease,
which is harmless to humans but causes unsightly lesions on the fruit and
leaves. There is no known cure, but fungicides can be used to control its
spread.
CNBC AFRICA
