The South African department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development says the EU will extend its citrus black spot measures on the country’s citrus for another three years
The South African Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) has completed a round of talks with stakeholders in government, in pursuit of further strengthening relationships and assessing market access issues.
“In some cases, this focused on how we gain new markets, and in others, addressing constraints that make southern African citrus uncompetitive in specific markets,” the CGA stated.
During these discussions, it emerged that the EU had indicated that it was going to extend the current measures on citrus black spot (CBS) applied to South African citrus for three more years.
These measures have been the subject of a long-standing dispute with the EU, which is currently on the desk of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
“This confirms the need to expedite the CGA’s case at the WTO and to achieve final relief for our growers from these unnecessary and trade restrictive measures,” the association continued.
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa will this week host EU Commission and council leaders at the South Africa/European Union Summit.
“The last summit was in Brussels in 2018, seven years ago,” the CGA noted. ”The EU remains a key market, receiving 35 per cent of our citrus exports, despite challenges faced with implemented unscientific CBS and false codling moth measures.”
During last week’s meetings, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development’s (DALRRD) director general Mooketsa Ramasodi acknowledged the leadership and foresight shown 20 years ago when the CGA and the department went ”knocking at China’s door” seeking market access for South African citrus.
“This has since led to growth in the region, with market access to the Philippines, Vietnam and South Korea, amongst others,” the industry body explained. ”Further market access progress continues under the leadership of Fruit SA.”
It was also revealed that new agricultural attaches to the US and the WTO in Switzerland would soon take up their positions. The CGA said it was looking forward to collaborating with them to advance market interests.
“News coming out of the USA continues to colour discourse in government and in our sector,” it said. “The government is planning for a delegation to travel to the USA to state South Africa’s case for continued participation in AGOA.”
AGOA gives South Africa’s citrus duty-free market access into the US market.
“This is at the prerogative of US law makers,” CGA pointed out. ”Various commentators are agitating for a more definitive trade framework to be pursued by our government to achieve some degree of market certainty.”
Competitors such as Peru, Chile and Argentina already had an advantage over South Africa due to geographic proximity and Free Trade Agreements already in place, the CGA added.
